AE 407 - Modelling and Simulation

Landing Gear
 Landing Gear

Oleo strut is a pneumatic-hydraulic shock absorber to

absorb energy in vertical direction. Damp out vertical
oscillations.
Max vertical speed 10 ft/s (3 m/s)
 Landing Gear

Interaction of tyre with ground surface and structural

members result into undesired behavior.
 Landing Gear

Braking result to many excitation frequency.

Walk cyclic fore and aft motion of straight strut. Due to
changing friction force on tire.
Chatter torsional motion of the rotating parts of the brake
wheel assembly about the axle (~50 hz).
Squeal torsional motion of nonrotating parts about the axle.
Possibly due to friction characteristics of the brake material
(100-1000 Hz).
Landing Gear
Landing Gear
Telescopic Landing Gear
1) Upper mass
2) Nitrogen gas (Pneumatic
spring)
3) Outer cylinder
4) Hydraulic fluid
5) Orifice plate
6) Metering pin
7) Snubber orifices
8) Snubber chamber
9) Power piston
10)Tyre
Landing Gear Non lineariteis

Gas behavior is modeled as

polytropic process, velocity
squared damping, variable area
orifice, non-linear tyre spring
and damping.
Gas works as a spring and
hydraulic fluid movement
through orifice and snubber
acts as variable damping.
Landing Gear
M u Upper mass
M l Lower mass
X wg coordinate of Upper mass
L aerodynamic lift
Pu upper cylider pressure
Dop Orifice diameter
PL Pr essure lower chamber
AL Area lower chamber
Ps Pr essure snubber chamber
AR Area snubber chamber
X a Axle coordinate
 Landing Gear
Applying Newton law, upper
body force balancing
M u X wg M u g L Pu A0
PL ( AL A0 ) Ps AR f

f friction in gear

X si
Pu Psi
X s max X s
X s X wg X a
Upper mass and cylinder
X si Some initial length
Psi Pressure at X si X s max Maximum extended length
 Landing Gear
Applying Newton law

M l X a M l g PL ( AL As )
Ps ( AR As ) Ft f
Ft Force transmitted by tire

Ft K t ( X a U ) Ct ( X a U )
U tyre deflection
Lower mass and cylinder K t tyre stiffness
Ct tyre damping
 Landing Gear
Ideal volumetric flow for incompressible fluid Qideal AV

Realistic volumetric flow for Qreal Cd Qideal ACdV

incompressible fluid
2P1 P2
Qreal ACd whenP1 P2
D 4

1 1
D2

P1 & P2 presseure across orifice
D1 & D2 Diameter of channel and orifice
In the given landing gear flow pressure across orifice and
snubber will determine the hydraulic liquid flow rate
 Landing Gear
Flow characteristics in snubber depends on the flow
direction
QSC flow rate through snubber in compression mod e
QSE flow rate through snubber in extension mod e

Assuming incompressible fluid

Q0 QSC AL X s 0.0

Q0 QSE AL X s 0.0

Relative velocity between upper mass and X s X wg X a

lower mass
 Landing Gear
Flow through orifice during
compression mode
2PL Pu
Q0 A0Cd whenPL Pu
d 4

1 0
DL

Flow through snubber during

compression mode

2PL Ps DL Diameter of lower chamber

QSC ASC CdS
C
whenPL PS
d C 4 d o Effective orifice diameter
1 S
DL d SC Snubber diameter during compression

 Landing Gear
Flow through orifice during
extension mode
2Pu PL
Q0 A0Cd whenPu PL
d 4

1 0
DL

Flow through snubber during
extension mode
2PS PL DL Diameter of lower chamber
QSE ASE CdSE whenPS PL
d E 4
d o Effective orifice diameter
1 S
DR d SC Snubber diameter during compression

 Landing Gear
2
Let non pressure terms defined as E1 A0Cd
d 4
1 0
DL
u
2 2
E2 ASC CdS
C
E4 ASE CdSE
d C 4 d E 4
1 S 1 S E3 E1
DL DR

Q0 E1 PL Pu Qsc E2 PL Ps QsE E4 Ps PL

Earlier equation for compression and extension can be

written as
E1 PL Pu E2 PL Ps AL X s 0 X s 0

E3 Pu PL E4 Ps PL AL X s 0 X s 0
 Landing Gear
Flow through snubber during
compression mode. Assuming
incompressible flow
QSC AR X s 0
Substituting Flow rate from
earlier expression
2PL Ps
ASC CdS
C
AR X s 0
dC 4

1 S
DL

Using expression for non pressure term

AR
E2 PL Ps AR X s 0 PL Ps Xs
E2
 Landing Gear
AR
E1 PL Pu E2 PL PS AL X s 0 X s 0 PL Ps Xs
E2

Substituting pressure term from second term in to first

and solving for remaining pressure terms
2
AL AR 2 X si
PL Pu X s Pu Psi
E3 X s max X s
2
AR 2
Ps PL X s
E2
 Landing Gear
Similarly for extension case X s 0
2
AL AR 2
PL Pu X s
E3
2 2
AR 2 AR 2
Ps PL X s Ps PL X s
E4 E4
 Landing Gear
From Newtons law

M u X wg M u g L Pu A0 PL ( AL A0 ) Ps AR f
M l X a M l g PL ( AL As ) Ps ( AR As ) Ft f

Substituting pressure terms in governing equation will

result into equation expressed in landing gear coefficients
and geometric parameters. Linearized equations will be
second order.
 Landing Gear
Sprung mass above landing gear
Unsprung mass below landing gear i.e. tyres. It is in contact
with surface
Model is approximation of all the springs and dampers
Tyres also have some stiffness and damping
Landing Gear

Applying Newton law

My1 c1 ( y1 y 2 ) k1 y1 y2 0
 Landing Gear

Applying Newton law

my2 c1 ( y 2 y1 ) c2 ( y 2 y g ) k1 y2 y1 k 2 y2 y g 0
Landing Gear

Dynamic equations

My1 c1 ( y1 y 2 ) k1 y1 y2 0

my2 c1 ( y 2 y1 ) c2 ( y 2 y g )
k1 y2 y1 k 2 y2 y g 0
 Landing Gear

Better approximations when all the landing gears

are analyzed
 Landing Gear

Such models can incorporate body rotation

 Aircraft shimmy

During landing - landing gear rotates about its vertical

axis due to lateral forces from tire
Landing Gear
Landing Gear - Tire
Tire can be considered as a
disk subjected to forces and
moments due to interaction
with the surface. Traction
forces is possible by slip.
 Landing Gear - Tire
Longitudinal slip
Vsx

Vx
Vsx Vx Re
Slip angle

Vcy
tan( )
Vx

Tire center distance from road plane reduces due to tire

deformation. Vertical force acts on patch. As the wheel moves
effective point of vertical force application moves away
 Landing Gear

Force changes with slip angle and it is highly nonlinear. Pure

force reduces whenever there is interaction.
 Tire Magic formulae
Tire characteristics are generally expressed using
empirical relationship. These curves can be expressed in a
generic function given below
Fx Fx , , , Fz
B,C,D, E, , c1 and c2 are regression
Fy Fy , , , Fz parameters
M z M z , , , Fz
Fy D sinC arctanB E ( B arctan(B ))
B C F / CD
D Fz
C F ( BCD) c12 arctan(Fz / c2 )
 Landing Gear trailing wheel model

Wheel is having offset (trailing arm) with vertical axis.

Vertical axis is having stiffness and damping.
 Stretched string tire model

For a static deflection tire material will stretch and behave

like a spring. Contact surface will depend on vertical load and
side force.
 Straight tangent tire model
' V ( ' ) a y c
Fy C f
M z Cm
Mz Cm
tp
Fy C f
t p pneumatic trail
relaxation length
Cm self aligning stiffness
C f cornering stiffness
a half tire contact length
Dynamics of slip angle when subjected to forces and moments.
Forces and moments are given by magic formulae.
 Landing Gear trailing wheel model

Linearized equation describing tire motion with respect to

vertical axis. Stability of this system can be explained using
system matrix

I zz M zzk c M zz C f (e t p )

k c C f ( e t p )

It
It It

1 0 0
' (e a) V V '