Special Issue - 2015 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
ICESMART-2015 Conference Proceedings

Design and Linear Static Analysis of Landing

Gear
Muhammed Faizal Elayancheri Sathish Kumar S
M. Tech. Machine Design Asst. Professor, Dept. of Mechanical
T.John Institute of Technology T.John Institute of Technology
Bangalore Bangalore

Abstract—Landing is one of the most maneuvering occurring in cannot be fully simulated as the real connection stiffness with
aircraft. Landing gear is considered as a nonlinear structure due the aircraft. This will affect the accuracy of the result of loads
to its complicate behavior. During landing period large amount measurement
of impact forces are transferred into nose gear and main landing
gear. The main objective of this paper is to present prototype of Numerous configurations of landing gear types can be
aircraft landing gear using CATIA V5 software to study the found. Additionally, combinations of two types of gear are
behavior of landing gear as per actual working condition. Static common. Amphibious aircraft are designed with gear that
loads are applied over the landing gear and internal forces are allows landings to be made on water or dry land. The gear
extracted from critical landing gear components like torque arm
is separately analysed for the internal forces obtained from the
features pontoons for water landing with extendable wheels
generalized modal the components were modelled with CATIA for landing on hard surface. A similar system is used to allow
V5 and imported to MSC Patran. MSC Nastran is used as a the use of skis and wheels on aircraft that operate on both
solver. From the obtained limit stresses, linear static analysis was slippery, frozen surfaces and dry runways. Typically, the skis
carried out to find the stress of the main landing gear with are retractable to allow use of the wheels when needed.
different conditions.
The material included within the submissions include an
Keywords— Main landing gear, linear static, CATIA V5, MSC overview of the various types of shock absorbers and the
Patran, nastran general equations pertinent to these designs, an in depth
technical investigation of the oleo-pneumatic shock absorber,
I. INTRODUCTION an analysis of multiple case studies, in addition to a discussion
of future innovations.
Aircraft landing gear supports the entire weight of an
aircraft during landing and ground operations. Aircraft II. LANDING GEAR CONFIGURATION
landing gear supports the entire weight of an aircraft during The first job of an aircraft designer in the landing gear
landing and ground operations. They are attached to primary design process is to select the landing gear configuration.
structural members of the aircraft. The type of gear depends Landing gear functions may be performed through the
on the aircraft design and its intended use. Most landing gears application of various landing gear types and configurations.
have wheels to facilitate operation to and from hard surfaces, Landing gear design requirements are parts of the aircraft
such as airport runways. Other gear feature skids for this general design requirements including cost, aircraft
purpose, such as those found on helicopters, balloon gondolas, performance, aircraft stability, aircraft control, maintainability,
and in the tail area of some tail dragger aircraft. Aircraft that product ability and operational considerations.
operate to and from frozen lakes and snowy areas may be
equipped with landing gear that have skis. Aircraft that In general, there are some configurations for a landing gear
operate to and from the surface of water have pontoon-type as follows:
landing gear. Regardless of the type of landing gear utilized,
shock absorbing equipment, brakes, retraction mechanisms,
a. Conventional gear
controls, warning devices, cowling, fairings, and structural
b. Single main wheel
members necessary to attach the gear to the aircraft are
c. Bicycle gear
considered part of the landing gear system.
d. Tricycle gear
Landing gear is one of the most important airplane e. Quadricycle gear
components to be used for aircraft take off, landing, taxiing, f. Multi-bogey gear
parking and steering on ground. In order to verify the
structural design loads and the structural strength, it is a. Conventional Gear
necessary to measure landing gear loads in flight tests.
Generally, ground load calibration test is to remove the A conventional landing gear consists of two main wheels
landing gear from the test aircraft, then fix it in specially located at both sides underneath the nose and one small tail
designed test rig and apply loads to the landing gear. In this wheel. The configuration is often used in small piston-engine
way, the connection stiffness between landing gear and rig

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 Special Issue - 2015 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
ICESMART-2015 Conference Proceedings

aircraft. The tail wheel causes less drag and the construction is III. METHODOLOGY
relatively light.
a. Literature review
b. Single Main Wheel b. CAD modeling of nose landing gear using CATIA
This configuration consists of a main gear and a small V5
tail wheel. Both gears are located at the centerline. This c. Stress and fatigue analysis of different
landing gear configuration often has outriggers underneath components using MSC NASTRAN and MSC
the wings to stabilize the aircraft. For some aircraft, the PATRON
outriggers have to be installed by the airport crew before d. Fatigue life estimation of critical components
taxiing. The single main wheel configuration is used for
light aircraft like gliders and sailplanes.
e. Conclusion

c. Bicycle Gear IV. CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Conceptual model of nose landing gear for trainer aircraft is
A bicycle gear consists of two main gears that are situated shown above in Figure
on the centerline of the aircraft. One gear is situated
underneath the nose and the second gear is situated at the
back, behind the center of gravity. Outriggers under the wings
prevent the aircraft from overturning. This configuration is
useful for aircraft with long and small fuselages. The bicycle
gear is light and the lock up compartment is small. This gear
configuration is relatively unstable and the pilot prevents the
outriggers from touching the ground. The bicycle gear is often
used for bomber aircraft with a wide wing span.
d. Tricycle Gear
The most used landing gear configuration consists of one
nose gear and two main gears which are located just behind
the center of gravity. The tricycle gear is a stable design and
easy to steer. It provides better visibility over the nose and the
aircraft loading is much easier. The disadvantage of this
configuration is the larger weight and the increase of drag.
When loading the aircraft, the load must be distributed over
the aircraft to prevent tail tipping. This configuration is used Fig.1 Main Landing Gear Conceptual Model.
for many commercial aircraft, for example the Boeing 737-
800 NG. V. MATERIAL
e. Quadricycle Gear
The material selection is the most important factor while
The quadricycle gear is almost similar to the bicycle gear,
designing a component. It offers a major role in
but the quadricycle consists of two nose gears and two main
gears that have an equal design. The gear turns in other
assigning the strength to the part
directions during crosswind landings. Cargo aircraft often use
a. Aluminum 2014-T6
the configuration, because the quadricycle aircraft are close to
the ground. The quadricycle generates more drag then the Ultimate tensile strength 483 MPa
bicycle gear and weighs more. Modulus of elasticity 73.1 GPa
Poisson’s ratio 0.33
f. Multi-bogey Gear Fatigue strength 124 MPa
In a multi-bogey gear configuration, multiple wheels are
fastened on one beam, a bogey. The nose gear consists of two b. NCM Steel
legs with two wheels each. The main gear consists of bogeys Ultimate tensile strength 1230 MPa
with multiple wheels. The advantage of the multi-bogey gears Poisson’s ratio 0.33
for larger aircraft is the pressure spreading over the ground: Fatigue strength 124 MPa
the forces on each tire are minimal.

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 Special Issue - 2015 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
ICESMART-2015 Conference Proceedings

VI. LANDING GEAR LOADS The finite element method (FEM) is a numerical
technique for solving engineering problem this method
can solve complex geometry, shape, material
Loads acting on landing gear on three different axes : properties, load and boundary condition. In this
a. Drag load – load in X direction method given problem is divided in to small elements
b. Vertical load – load in Y direction these elements are connected each other by nodes.
c. Side load – load in Z direction Nodes are the points where the properties of elements
determined. For static linear problem a system of the
Landing gear experiences landing and ground linear algebraic equation should be solved. The
software used for the analysis of the wing fuselage
manoeuvring load cases . The different static and critical
attachment bracket of a fighter aircraft airframe
loads that act on under carriage are as follows: structure is MSC.Patran & MSC.Nastran.
a. Three-point landing spin-up load
b. Three-point landing spring back load
c. Three-point landing –impact load VIII. FEM CONCEPT
d. Taxing load
e. Pivoting load
f. Turning load The finite element method is based on the idea of building a
g. Towing load complicated objects with simple blocks, or dividing a
h. Three point braked roll load complicated object into small or manageable pieces.
i. Unsymmetrical braking load Application of this can be found in everyday life as well as in
engineering.
a. Vertical load Ex. Buildings, kid’s play(lego)
FEM method is most widely applied computer simulation in
R(M.L.G) = engineering.
Procedure for structural analysis
R(M.L.G) - Reaction load on main landing gear
Ml – Landing weight of aircraft a. Divide structure into pieces(element with nodes)
Vv – Vertical velocity for civil a/c- 3.05m/s b. Describe the behavior of the physical quantities
ηm- is the overall lyre and shock absorber efficiency
δm- is the corresponding overall vertical deflection. on each element
ηm* δm =(0.47 δmt + ηmsδms) where suffixes 'MT' and c. Assemble the elements at the nodes to form an
'MS' refer to the main-wheel tire and shock absorber.
approximate system of equations for the whole

VII. FINITE ELEMENT structure.

ANALYSIS d. Solve the system of equations involving unknown
quantities(displacements)

e. Calculate the desired quantities (strains,

stresses)at selected elements.

Fig.2 structure analysisl.

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 Special Issue - 2015 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
ICESMART-2015 Conference Proceedings

IX. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Meshing is the process of dividing the structure into
domains so that the complicated parts can be easily analyzed. The optimization of design variables using NASTRAN
PATRAN
By dividing the structure the stress concentration and
stress sensitivity spots can be easily determined.

Fig.5 one dimensional stress analysis

Fig.3 FE model of sock strut.

Fig.6 displacement,translation ,magnitude

Fig.4 FE model of landing gear

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Special Issue - 2015 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
ICESMART-2015 Conference Proceedings

X .CONCLUSION

This design is an attempt to the study and preliminary initial

layout of the Landing gear.Study of software packages like
MSC NASTRAN/PATRAN, CATIA V5 are carried out in
order to design and analyze the static strength requirement of
landing gearl.The geometric modeling of landing gear is
done using CATIA V5 R19 software package. A thorough
study of finite element analysis is carried out in order to
produce a finite element model of modeled landing gear
using finite element software package MSC PATRAN

REFERENCES

[1].Conway, H. G., Landing Gear Design, Chapman & Hall, London, 1958.
[2]. Currey, N. S., Aircraft Landing Gear Design:Principles and Practices,
AIAA Education Series,
Fig.7 stress tenser Washington, 1988.
[3]. Jayaram, S., Myklebust, A., and Gelhausen, P., “ACSYNT - A Standards-
Based System for Parametric Computer Aided Conceptual Design of
Aircraft,” AIAA Paper 92-1268, February 1992.
[4]. Chai, S., and Mason, W.H., “Landing Gear Integration and Design
Studies for Aircraft Conceptual Design,” MAD Center Report 96- 08-01,
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, August, 1996
[5]. Torenbeek, E., Synthesis of Subsonic AirplaneDesign, Delft University
Press, The Netherlands, 1982, pp. 341-363.
[6]. Fiornio, F., Comp., “Too Big For Your Britches,” Aviation Week and
Space Technology, Vol. 144, No. 21, May 20, 1996, p. 19.
[7].“Landing gear design” by H.G. Conway, published under the authority of
Royal Aeronautical Society .
[8].“Landing gear design” by Mohammed Sadreay.
[9].“Aircraft Landing Gear Design: Principles and Practices” by Norman S.
Currey.
[10].“Airplane Design” by Jan Roskam.
[11].“Practical Finite Element Analysis” by Nithin S Gokhale, Sanjay S
Deshpande, Sanjeev V Bedekar & Anand N Thite.
[12].George Herbert Dowty, Aircraft Landing Gear Design, England, Nov
1943.

Fig.7 Max. shear stress

Fig8 Von mises stress

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