Study of Fluid Structure Interaction due to Water Splashing on the Rear Fender of Motorcycles

Automotive OEM's are looking to develop plastic parts with maximum life and durability through virtual simulations with help of CAE tools, thereby saving the mold cost, material cost and time. The design constrains would be manufacturability, loads, boundary condition and aesthetics. This work involves the multi-discipline approach to virtually visualize the effect of fluid structure interaction due to splashing on the rear fender of a motorcycle which acts as mud guard. This study shows effect of splashing of water over rear fender on wet roads. First, the pressure developed on the rear fender due to impingement of water on surface is obtained through a multiphase volume of fluid analysis using CFD software Fluent. Secondly, these pressure values are taken as input in Abaqus software and the part is analyzed for its durability. The main focus was to check the change in pressure value and stress levels in rear fender by varying the following parameters; level of water, splash angle and tire width while splashing. The hot spot locations and change in behavior of rear fender due to change in parameters were taken in account for optimization of the current design and would be considered as design constrains in future.