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EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT STRESS ANALYSIS OF THREE WHEELER

FRONT FENDER

Conference Paper · August 2011

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 EXPERIMENTAL AND FINITE ELEMENT STRESS ANALYSIS OF
THREE WHEELER FRONT FENDER

U. A. MALAWADE D. G. THOMBARE
JSPM’s Jayawantrao Sawant KES’s Rajarambapu Institute of
College of Engineering, Pune. Technology, Sakharale.

DR. A.A. KESTE S. H.GAWANDE

M.E.S. College of Engg. M.E.S. College of Engg.
Pune. Pune.

ABSTRACT
During repair and maintenance work of three wheeler vehicle, the front fender is
used to lift the vehicle. As this fender is not designed to take the load there is
need to predict the structural strength of fender. In this paper, the stresses
developed in the fender are analyzed by Finite Element Analysis and
experimental methods.

KEY WORDS
Fender, Solid Modeling, Fixture, Strain Gauges, Strain Indicator

1. INTRODUCTION
The ‘Fender’ called as the ‘Mud-Guard’ is used to keep off mud, pebbles,
and other road debris from splashing on and scratching the coat of the vehicle
and is designed in such a way as to reduce the wind resistance. Fenders also add
sufficient housing for the wheels and suspension linkages. They are designed in
different size, shape and colours for vehicles depending upon individual
requirements. While designing the fender various factors are considered. The
fender should provide sufficient cover to the wheel and suspension linkages, it
should have sufficient strength to withstand loads and vibration under all
operating conditions. Apart from normal loads the fender is subjected to
different handling conditions during repair and maintenance of the vehicle. The
vehicle is normally handled by servicemen during repair and maintenance with
the help of fender for which it is not designed and manufactured. The
manufacturer of the vehicle has now come to know that the fender design
required to be modified for handling during repair and maintenance. A typical
three wheeler is as shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Three Wheeler Vehicle

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 The design of the fender i.e. selection of material, shape and thickness of
material including number of ribs and its shape etc. is done such that the fender
provides sufficient strength under various service loads. Thus structural strength
of the front fender is to be checked by suitable methods. The stress analysis of
the component gives details of stress distribution which will help the designer to
modify the component so as to provide sufficient strength. The stress analysis
can be made by experimental and theoretical methods. To reduce time and cost
of experimentation now a days design engineers are using theoretical method
first and then a final prototype model is tested experimentally. Finite element
analysis is now popularly used for stress analysis. Rafat Ali [1] has described the
application of the finite element technique to the static stress analysis of
composite structure in which finite element [FE] model of structure is
authenticated by using strain gauge and strain indicator.Basil Housari, Lian X.
Yang [2] explained the experimental stress measurement technique used to
measure stress concentration in which results obtained from rosette strain gauges
are compared with those from finite element analysis.
A FE model of front fender of a motorcycle is created by Muniyasamy K,
Govindrajan R, Jayram N, Ravi Kharul [3], with 4 node elastic shell elements
with 6 degree of freedom. The FE estimated life is compared with the target life.
K. Bel Knani, P. Bolegno, E. Duni, G Villari [4] described numerical
methodologies used for both fatigue life prediction and impact load analysis of
suspension components. FE stress results have been validated through
comparison with experimental strain gauge measurements. Mohhamad M.
Ansari [5] compared strain data from finite element results and test data from
strain gauge test. Quadrilateral shell element has been used to generate FE
model.
Failure prediction methodologies that can predict sheet metal failure under
arbitrary deformation histories including rotating principal, stretch directions
and bending / unbending with considerations of damage evaluation are
explained by Hui-Min Huang and Jwo Pan [6]. Calculated failure strains agreed
with experimental results.
An advanced finite element analysis [FEA] of an all-composite chassis
structure to verify the ultimate load carrying capacity is suggested by Naveen
Rastogi [8] in which Hypermesh was used to prescribe material orientation for
the 2D shell element representing composite material part. In first order analysis
(FOA) any vehicle body structure interpreted as a collective simple structure
that can be decomposed into three fundamental structure types viz. BEAM,
PANEL, JOINT. Daichi Kunishi, Noboru Kikuchi [9] proposed a methodology
to identify a portion of an arbitrary FE model of an automotive body structure
with BEAM structure in FOA approach.
In the available literature the exact theoretical analysis of fender for similar
loading condition is not available because of complex geometry but available for
similar components. Hence, finite element analysis seems to be the best possible
alternative for such analysis.

2. PROBLEM DEFINITION & OBJECTIVE

The following problems are frequently observed while operating the three-
wheeler vehicle.
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 1. In case of tyre puncture of three wheeler vehicle the procedure of
removing the front wheel is very tedious. Currently the whole
vehicle has to be tilted to one side
2. So, the vehicle is lifted by holding the fender from both sides.
3. The front fender might not design to take the lifting load of
vehicle, so the structural strength has to be estimated by some
methods.
The objective of present research is to carry out finite element stress
analysis of front fender of three-wheeler and experimental validation of the
stress. The analysis will provide knowledge of stress distribution across the
whole fender due to load. The front fender which is taken for the analysis is of a
typical three wheeler in india a shown in Fig.2.

Fig.2 Front Fender of Three Wheeler

3. SOLID MODELING OF FENDER

To carry out FEM analysis of any component, the solid model of the same
is essential. It is also called body in white. Fig.3 shows a solid model of
FENDER.

Fig.3 Solid Model of Fender

4. FINITE ELEMENT MESH GENERATION

After validation of the model next step is generation of Finite Element
Mesh. For the fender SOLID element used is SHELL63 for meshing as shown
in Fig. 4 with Boundary Conditions [BC] Fig.5 and. A very fine mesh creates
the hardware space problem because the computations become voluminous. As
the number of nodes increases, the total degrees of freedom of the model
increases. Hence a designer has to model it optimally i.e. placing fine mesh only
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at critical area; and coarse mesh at other. So that the run time is less and also the
accuracy is not much affected. The ANSYS program has a comprehensive
graphical user interface (GUI) that gives users easy, interactive access to
program functions, commands, documentation, and reference material. An
intuitive menu system helps users navigate through the ANSYS program. Users
can input data using a mouse, a keyboard, or a combination of both.

Fig.4 Meshed Model front fender Fig. 5 BC of fender

6. RESULTS OF ANSYS
Stress Distribution for 60 kg.

Fig.6 In X Direction

Fig.7 In Y Direction Fig.8 In Z Direction

FEM results as shown in Fig.6 to Fig.8 are validated experimentally using

strain gauges. Following steps are followed for experimental validation.
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 • Design and development of Suitable fixture setup.
• Selections of locations of strain measurement.
• Strain measurement at predefined loading conditions.
• Comparison of values obtained from FEM analysis and those from
experimental methods.

7. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
For the experimental validation of the result, the Fender is to be loaded as
per the actual condition. Suitable fixture is fabricated and mounted on a rigid
frame or wall. For the sake of convenience the Fender was mounted in reverse
position i.e. upside down. Hence applied dead weights will work as similar to
actual lifting load condition. Subsequently strain induced was recorded on strain
indicator. Fig.9 the developed experimental setup.

Fig. 9 Experimental Setup

8. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Experimental stress analysis shows that for the applied load of 80 kg fender
gets unsymmetrically deformed. Due to imbalanced deformation of fender the
strain initially increases but get reverse due to buckling of one side of fender
inwards & other side outwards [Fig. 10 to Fig.14]. Hence readings have not
reached the peak value. So readings up to 60 kg load worth consideration.

Fig.10 Experimental & FEA stress Fig.11 Experimental & FEA stress

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 Fig.12 Graph Experimental & FEA stress analysis in Z direction

Fig. 13 FEA stress analysis Fig. 14 Experimental stress analysis

9. CONLUSIONS
From Stress analysis it is found that the applied lifting loads results in
critical stress concentration areas at the supports, hence the stresses induced at
these supports of the fender increases directly with the lifting loads applied.Thus
in order to make the fender safe, thickness of sheet has to be modified
accordingly at the support region. It is observed that the error between
Experimental & ANSYS stress value is in the range of 0 – 10 %.

REFERENCES
[1] Rafat Ali, “Finite Element Study of a Composite Material Sump Pan of an I.C. Engine”, SAE
Paper No.950942, 1995.
[2] Basil Housari, Lian X. Yang, “Experimental Techniques for Strain Measurement and
Validation of CAE Model”, SAE Paper No.2005-01-0587, 2005.
[3] Muniyasamy K., Govindrajan R., Jayram N., Ravi kharul, “Vibration Fatigue Analysis of
Motorcycle Front Fender” , SAE Paper No.2005-32-0030, 2005.
[4] K. Bel Knani, P. Bologna, E. Duni, G.Villari, G.Armando, M Tortone, M Leghissa, S Borone,
“ CAE Methodologeis for Virtual Prototyping of Cast Aluminum Suspension Components” ,
SAE Paper no. 2002-01-0677, 2002.
[5] Mohammed M Ansari, “Validation of Finite Element (FE) Model for All Radiator End Tank”,
SAE Paper No.2002-01-0951,2002.
[6] Hui-Min Huang, Jwo Pan, Sing Tang, “Failure Prediction of Sheet Metals Based on an
Anisotropic Gurson Model”, SAE Paper No.2000-01-0766, 2000.
[7] A. Krishna, “Stress analysis of Instrument Panel Knobs”, SAE Paper No..2000-01-0316, 2000.
[8] Naveen Rastogi, “Stress analysis and Lay-Up Optimization of an All Composite Pick-Up
Truck Chassis Structure”, SAE Paper No.2004-01-1519, 2004.
[9] Daichi Kunishi, Noboru Kikuchi, “Analysis of FEM Results Based upon FOA”, SAE Paper
No.2004-01-1729, 2004.
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