International J ournal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013

Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

22
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MAIN LANDING GEAR STRUCTURE
OF A TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT AND FATIGUE LIFE ESTIMATION
FOR THE CRITICAL LUG

1
R RAVI KUMAR,
2
P. K DASH,
3
S R BASAVARADDI

1
Product Design and Mfg, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, India
2
Chairman, Bangalore Aircraft Industries Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
Mechanical Engineering, KLE College of Engg., Belgaum, India
Email: Ravi.kr727@gmail.com


Abstract: The current work includes the design and analysis of a mediumsize transport aircraft landing gear unit. A typical
landing load case will be assumed for which structural analysis will be carried out.
During landing, there will be three different types of loads
i. Vertical load
ii. Drag load
iii. Side load
Each of these loads will cause axial compression, bending and torsion on the strut of the landing gear. As a first
approximation the landing gear space structure will be idealized as a statically determinate structure and a stress analysis will
be performed using strength of Material approach. The stresses developed because of all three types of loading on the
structural members of the landing gear will be calculated.
A finite element model of the landing gear structure will be developed and analyzed. The FEA stress and deformation results
will be compared with that obtained from SOM approach.
These stresses and internal loads can then be used for the design of various structural members of the landing gear unit.
Fatigue life to crack initiation will be estimated for a critical lug of the landing gear unit by considering the constant
amplitude landing cycles


I. INTRODUCTION

Landing gear is one of the primary structural
components of the airframe. Landing gear enables the
airplane to take off and land on ground. Its design
considerations are significantly different .A variety of
landing gear configurations and types are in use
today. The most common type being tri-cycle
arrangement with a nose landing gear and a main
landing gear[2]. Impact loads during landing are the
main design loads for the landing gear design.
Landing gears should also be checked for various
other ground handling loads as specified in the
regulatory requirements [1]. The landing gear
withstands the ground impact load and absorbs the
impact energy and diffuses the load to the
surroundings attachment.

II. METHODOLOGY

Fig A : Methodology

Conceptual Model
Conceptual model of main landing gear is as shown
in figure B

Fig B : landing gear conceptual model

Landing Gear Analysis Problem


Fig c : landing loads and dimensions
International J ournal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

23
The landing loads shown in fig C acting at the wheel
axle will be transferred to the supporting structure at
points A, B, C through the landing gear structure. The
vertical and drag components of the unknown
reactions are shown at point A, B and C. Calculation
of these reactions is required to carry out the stress
analysis of the landing gear. These calculation are
done and reaction acting on each members are shown
in the fig D .

Fig D: reactions of the structure

Design of the landing gear structure

The forces obtained on the members are taken and
design for the members are done in my previous
paper [5]
Material Used: Al7075T6
Youngs modulus=73GPa
Yield strength=503MPa
FOS=1.5

Calculated Designed dimensions [5] taken for
analysis

For, Strut G d=57.41mm
Strut F d=55.42mm
Strut C d=42.9 mm
Oleo strut OE d=80 mm
Member AB d=112.5mm

III. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE
LANDING GEAR

Stages of FEA

Steps used for analysis of FEM model
The important steps are done from creation of
geometry model to until get results for FEM model.
The geometry is modeled for given dimensions by
using MSC PATRAN.
The geometric structure is discretized using
CBAR2 elements as shown in fig E
After meshing, have to check things like
equivalence, duplicates and boundary and after that
we have to check the quality of mesh.
Important criteria considered here to check the
quality of mesh, like aspect ratio, normal offset,
wrap, and Jacobean ratio.
Type of material, elastic modules and Poisson ratio
are input given for analysis.
Material properties are given for different
subgroups.
Loads/Boundary conditions given to meshed model.
In Analysis we give output requests for
displacements,stresses, grid point force balance,
elemental forces etc..,
From analysis after applying the above requests we
get BDF file, its containing all input data given to the
model.
To solve the problem of analysis model
MSC/NASTRAN is used as solver.
After solving the problem from MSC/NASTRAN,
We get the XDB file, it Contains output results.
Finally the post processing results are checked
through MSC/PATRAN.
Main quantities observed in result sheet are von
misses stress, stress components, elemental stresses,
free body loads



Fig E : Meshed model of the landing gear

IV. RESULTS

Free body diagrams calculated theoretically and
obtained through software does matches as shown in
fig F tells us that the calculations are correct
International J ournal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

24

Fig F :FBD of the landing gear structure

The maximum stress obtained in the member is 278
MPashown in fig G which is less than the yield
strength of the structure taken 324 MPa. Thus states
that the design is safe



Fig G: Stress distribution of the landing gear structure

Design and analysis of Critical lug attachment of
landing gear Conceptual model
A lug is a member which is a connecting member
between wing or fuselage and the landing gear.
The conceptual model of the attachment lug is shown
in fig

Design of lug
The material used for the members are Al7075T6,
where, E=73GPa, Yield strength=503MPa, FOS=1.5

Calculation of the diameter of the pin
To calculate the diameter of the pin, we take
allowable shear stress
We know that

Shear stress allowable =0.5*Yield stress
Here we know the yield stress of the material,
Shear stress allowable =162 N/mm2
Thus by knowing the shear stress we know that if the
material subjected to shear stress is taken as
Shear stress allowable=P/2A
Here we can calculate the area as we know by fig D
the maximum load which can be taken by the
material is 472821N which is a critical load which is
acting near strut G.
Thus diameter of the pin is 43.105mm
Once designed pin diameter we design the lug the
dimensions and relation is as shown in fig H


Fig H: Dimensions of lug

To find thickness of the member we can find it by
using normal stress formula
Stress=load/pin area
Here to take stress value we take nomial stress for the
design
Wkt,
Stress Intensity Factor =stressmax/stress nominal
Kt = max / nom
For loaded hole , stress intensity factor is taken as 4
by referring the stress intensity chart
Thus
nom = max / Kt
i.e nom=324/4 =81
we know the maximum load acts on member is
472821 N . we know the area subjected here for load
is (129.315-43.105)*t
thus thickness (t) =75 mm

Analysis of lug
The dimensions obtained is modeled in Msc
PATRAN and meshed as shown in fig I.
International J ournal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

25

Fig I : meshed model of lug

Later, Boundary conditions are given and the model
is sent for processor to solve, the solver used is MSc
Nastran. The solver solves the problem and the
results are obtained from MSc Patran
The results obtained is shown in fig J

.
Fig J : stress plot of the critical lug

V. FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION

Fatigue is a phenomenon caused by repetitive loads
on a structure. It depends on the magnitude and
frequency of these loads in combination with the
applied materials and structural shape. Structural
members are frequently subjected to repetitive
loading over a long period of time. Here the lug joint
is subjected for the repetitive loads while landing,
taxing, takeoff, etc..., so these joints are tested for the
fatigue condition of failure.
Steps used in the fatigue design is that first we take
proper SN curve of the material of the lug joint
shown in fig K. Later we calculate the stress
amplitude and stress ratio by using
amp =

R=



Later we have plotted a table as shown in the fig l


Fig K : S-N curve for material AL7075T6

The damage accumulated in the member is calculated
for 1 flight, where it can be given by
D=n
i
/N
i,
The total damage accumulated was
di=2.389*10-4 per flight

The block load spectrum T when structure is failure
can be expressed as [25];


The total number of load blocks by Eqn. gives
4185.85blocks.which says that the crack initiation in
the structure takes plays after 4185.85 flight hours
and suggested that to replace for maintenance
department of aircraft


International J ournal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

26
CONCLUSION

The landing gear space structure idealized as a
statically determinate structure its reactions,
forces acting on each member are determined
by using simple numerical approach.
From the dimensions obtained, Analysis of the
landing gear structure is done
The free body diagram of the landing gear
member which we got shows us that the
reactions calculated for the members through
analytical approach and the software validation
is done
The main landing gear structure which carries
load is connected to the wing through lug joint
The design of the maximum load carrying lug
is done and analyzed the same
As the lug joint is subjected to repetitive loads
the fatigue life estimation is done








































It can be concluded that lug joint is a failsafe
design and recommended to change every time
after 4185.85 hours of flight.

REFERENCES

[1] E. F. Bruhn, Analysis and design of flight structure, 1973
[2] Michel-chun-yungniu, Aircraft structural design, 1995
[3] Aerospace engineering / March 1996 landing gear structural
integrity
[4] Dr.R.K. Bansal Strength of materials 4
th
edition
[5] Ravi kumar R ,Nithin Kumar , S R Basavaraddi Design of a
landing gear structure of a transport aircraft ICETE,2013
[6] J . C. Newman, J r, Advances in fatigue and fracture
mechanics analyses for aircraftstructures, Mechanics and
Durability Branch, NASA Langley Research Center,
Hampton,VA, USA.
[7] Grigory I. Nesterenko, Service life of airplane structures,
Central AerohydrodynamicInstitute (TsAGI), Russia, 2002.
[8] C.M. Sonsino, Course of SN-curves especially in the high-
cycle fatigue regimewith regard to component design and
safety, Int. J . of Fatigue 2007.