Landing Gear Design Analysis

David Sandells
Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering
Mission Statement 2010-2015

We aspire to be a dynamic, global, enterprising university. We will

work in partnership with external organisations through our research
and engage our students as partners in a community of learning.
David Sandells (MEng, CEng (MIET)

Lecturer in aircraft system design (undergraduate & postgraduate).

Landing gear, hydraulics, electrical systems, structural design and
industrial project management & sustainable aviation.

Industry experience (Chief, Principal & Systems Engineer).

787 Landing Gear valves and uplocks
Merlin Electrical primary flight actuation system
Fuel systems, hydro-mechanical & electro-mechanical actuation
systems
Patents in electrical thrust reverser design and actuator design.

Aviation enthusiast BGA gliding instructor, NPPL (SLMG), MGIR

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Modern City Centre campus on single 33-acre site

Over 17,000 students (15% International)
Approx. 2,500 staff
World-leading and internationally excellent research in every
Faculty - 7 out of 16 areas receiving the highest rating in
overall quality profile in the RAE 2008
A Top 25 UK Higher Education Institution (Working with
business and supporting the economy). 11.4m HEIF5
Investment 2011-2015.
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Todays talk

Explaination of typical landing gear calculations.

Demonstration using SMath software tool
Preliminary aircraft design stage

Focus on
Kinematic Analysis
Landing loads
SMath Software

Maths software problems:

Cannot read equations easily
Unit conversions
Results rather than method displayed
Hard to add comments
Printing in a reviewable format

SMath
Freely available www.smathstudio.com
Paper interface
Handles Units
No affiliation with Coventry
University Use at own risk
KINEMATICS
Kinematics

Analysis of Mechanism Movement

Finding Mechanism Position

Vary until =

We need a function: ()

Find where: =0
Finding positions of joints

Y How do we find the position of J2

relative to the origin.
Given that the mechanism rotates.
Whilst avoiding trigonometry!

J2
 Vector Representation of Positions

Y Frame 1 1 0 0 6 3 9 Coordinates
0 1 0 4 2 2
of point
Pt F 1 = = relative to
0 0 1 0 0 0
Frame 1

0 0 0 1 1 1

X Y
Frame 2 3
2
3
0
Rotations
2
1
1 0 0 6
0 1 0 4 Translation
T12 = 6 X
0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1
4
Vector Representation of Positions

cos( ) sin ( ) 0 6 3 x
Y Frame 1 sin ( ) cos( )
0 4 2 y
=
0 0 1 0 0 0


0 0 0 1 1 1

Rotation about Z
cos( ) sin ( ) 0 6
sin ( ) cos( ) 0 4
T12 = 12
0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1
Vector Representation of Positions

1 0 0 6 cos( ) sin ( ) 0 0 3 x
Y Frame 1 0
1 0 4 sin ( ) cos( ) 0 0 2 y
=
0 0 1 0 0
0 1 0 0 0


0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
Translate Rotate Pt
Order is important
X

12
Vector Representation of Positions

Can translate in x, y and z directions

Can rotate around x, y and z axis
We can use a 4x4 matrix to define these transforms

Y
3
2
Z

0

1

X
 Transformation Matrices

Homogeneous 1 0 0 0
0 cos( ) sin ( ) 0
Matrices RX ( ) =
representation 0 sin ( ) cos( ) 0

0 0 0 1

cos( ) 0 sin ( ) 0
1 0 0 x 0
0 0
0 y
1 0
1 RY ( ) =
Trl ( x , y, z ) = sin ( ) 0 cos( ) 0
0 0 1 z
0 0 0 1
0 0 0 1
cos( ) sin ( ) 0 0
sin ( ) cos( ) 0 0
RZ ( ) =
0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1
Transform inversions

We can go the other way by inverting the matrix (M-1) :-

cos( ) sin ( ) 0 6
sin ( ) cos( ) 0 4
T12 = Goes from frame 1 to frame 2
0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1

1
T21 =
cos( ) sin ( ) 0 6
sin ( ) cos( ) 0 4
Inverted - Goes from frame 2 to frame 1

0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1
F1
F2
F0 F4
F3
 02 = ( , , 0)
F1
F2
F0 F4 23 () = ()
F3
34 = (,0,0)

01 () = ()

Position of F4 relative to F7 17 = (0, ,0)

x74 0
y 0
T02 T23 ( ) T34 = f ( , )
74 = 1 1

z74 T17 T01 ( ) 0

F7
1 1 F 4
Walkthrough

KINEMATIC CALCULATIONS IN
SMATH SEE EXAMPLE FILE
LANDING LOADS
m : Mass
of aircraft

V : Vertical
Decent
Velocity

1
KE = m v 2
2
PE = m g ( S S + ST )

Ss : Shock Compression

ST : Tyre Compression
Shock Absorber Modelling

Given component characteristics we can predict landing

gear response.

Most gear have a static and dynamic response

Spring ()
Damper ()
Shock Absorber Modelling

Air Springs polytrophic process

: = 1.35
= (typical)
: = 1.1

Dampers Fluid flow through an orifice

1
= 2
22

Leaf spring Cantilever bending

2 () () ()
= = =
2 () () 2

Springs, Bungees, Tyres

Linear approximation or Lookup table
LANDING LOAD SIMULATIONS
Modelling the response

An approximation fixed time step model:-

Start at the point of touchdown

Position = 0
Vertical Speed = Vertical Sink Speed

Deceleration =

Calculate force from position & vertical speed

Calculate deceleration from the force

Move forward a time-step

Calculate new vertical speed (deceleration over time-step)

Calculate position (velocity over time-step)

Walkthrough

LANDING LOAD SIMULATIONS

IN SMATH SEE EXAMPLE FILE
Coventry University Courses

Next Courses 7-17th April 2014

Look out for booking on LAA website (under training)
business.ec@coventry.ac.uk

Design Courses:
Design for Manufacture
Aerodynamics theory and practice (wind-tunnel)
Aerodynamic Simulation (CFD)
Flight Simulation and Performance (Simulators)
Landing Gear & System Design Focus on free/open
source or inexpensive
software
Stress Courses:
Fundamental Stress Analysis
Introduction to the Finite Element Method
Composite Material Stress Analysis