International Journal 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
1
R RAVI KUMAR, 2P. K DASH, 3S 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 medium size 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 Conceptual Model

Conceptual model of main landing gear is as shown
Landing gear is one of the primary structural in figure B
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
Fig B : landing gear conceptual model
withstands the ground impact load and absorbs the
impact energy and diffuses the load to the Landing Gear Analysis Problem
surroundings attachment.

II. METHODOLOGY

Fig A : Methodology Fig c : landing loads and dimensions

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

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

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
Young’s modulus=73GPa
Yield strength=503MPa
FOS=1.5
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.
T ype 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

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

Fig E : Meshed model of the landing gear

IV. RESULTS

Free body diagrams calculated theoretically and

obtained through software does matches as shown in
Steps used for analysis of FEM model fig F tells us that the calculations are correct
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug

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International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
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
Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug
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Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
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 = σ max /σ nom
For loaded hole , stress intensity factor is taken as 4
by referring the stress intensity chart
Thus
σ nom = σ max / Kt
i.e σ 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 Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013

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

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 Fig K : S-N curve for material AL7075T6
results are obtained from MSc Patran
The results obtained is shown in fig J The damage accumulated in the member is calculated
for 1 flight, where it can be given by
D=ni/Ni,
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

.
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
σ σ
σamp =
σ
R=σ

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

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International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092,
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

Design and Analysis of Main Landing Gear Structure of a Transport Aircraft and Fatigue Life Estimation For The Critical Lug
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Volume- 1, Issue- 4, Oct-2013
 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 “4th 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, Jr, “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.