CAREER EPISODE 2

NOSE LANDING GEAR FEA ANALYSIS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

 Duration: ---
 Organization: Malla Reddy College of Engineering And Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological University, Hyderabad
 Location: Hyderabad, India
 Position: Team Head
 Mentor: ----
2.2 Background

2.2.1

An aircraft is a very complex machine consisting of thousands of parts for its operation. One of
the major operations of an aircraft is to land after flying in the air. Due to high load and speed of
an aircraft, it possesses large momentum which when stroke against the ground causes large
stress on the aircraft. The part used for landing of an aircraft is called landing gear. It consists of
several parts like strut, piston, drag strut and lug. These parts are responsible for landing an
airplane on the ground safely without damaging the other components of the aircraft and
providing maximum comfort to passengers inside the plane.

A nose landing gear of aircraft was designed and analyzed. Parts of nose landing gear selected
for designing were strut, piston, drag strut, shock absorber and lug. Materials were selected for
strut, piston, lug and drag strut. For strut and lug, aluminum alloy material was selected.
Titanium Alloy was selected for piston and steel material was selected for drag strut of nose
landing gear. Calculation of design parameters of landing gear were conducted manually. CAD
model of landing gear along with lug was prepared in SolidWorks. Analysis of nose landing gear
was done in ANSYS for studying its performance.

2.2.2 Objectives

The main objective was nose landing gear FEA analysis. The other objectives were:

 To increase reliability of landing gear.

 To improve performance of landing gear by decreasing stresses on it.
 Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological
University,
Hyderabad

Malla Reddy
College of
Engineering And
Technology

Deaprtment of
Mechanical
Engineering

Advisor

Team Leader
Team Members
Kammari Harish

Figure 1 Organogram

2.2.3 ROLES

 To read about the landing gear, its uses in aircraft and its parts.
 To select parts for designing landing gear of an aircraft in this project.
 To calculate parameters of design of landing gear of aircraft.
 To prepare CAD model of nose landing gear of aircraft.
 To analyze design of nose landing gear using FEA in ANSYS.
2.3 PEA

2.3.1

I gained information about an aircraft including landing gear which was used for landing the
aircraft on the ground. I acquired knowledge about parts of landing gear like strut, piston, drag
strut and lug. I learned about main forces acting on landing gear of aircraft and stresses resulting
due to the forces. Then I acknowledged about method of designing a landing gear of an aircraft
by theoretical calculation of design parameters of the landing gear. Then I acquired information
about different materials like Aluminum alloy, Titanium Alloy and steel respectively. After that,
I learned to create CAD models of parts of landing gear of an aircraft. Further, I acquired the
skills to use FEA for analyzing the design of landing gear in ANSYS.

2.3.2

Then I selected parts for designing landing gear of an aircraft in this project. I selected to use
strut, piston and cylinder, drag strut, oleo-pneumatic shock absorber because of it high efficiency
and lug for designing landing gear. After that, I selected materials for designing parts of landing
gear based on comparison of properties of several material. For designing strut and lug, I
selected aluminum alloy material because of its low weight and resistance to corrosion. I selected
Titanium Alloy for piston because of its high strength and resistance to corrosion and steel
material for drag strut of nose landing gear because of its high strength. Further, I chose
SolidWorks software for preparing CAD model of parts of landing gear. Then I nominated
ANSYS software to analyze model of landing gear.

2.3.3

After that, I calculated parameters of design of landing gear of aircraft. I acquired lead
specification of aircraft from manual book of an aircraft. Then I calculated height of CG of the
aircraft using ground clearance and diameter of propeller. Using height of CF and the fuselage
diameter, I determined the landing gear height. Then I checked that clearance angle was greater
than take-off clearance angle, so I confirmed that ground fuselage would not hit ground. Using
maximum take-off weight and distance of CG from landing gear, I determined wheel base. Then
I calculated wheel track in overturn on front view and that in case of overturn on top view. After
that, I determined load on main gear and load on nose gear as 85% and 15% respectively of
maximum taking-off weight. Then I calculated shock absorber stroke and maximum allowable
deflection of tire. I determined diameter of piston using maximum static load and maximum
pressure. After that, I calculated diameter and length of cylinder using diameter of piston. Then I
calculated diameter of hole on lug attachment using allowable shear stress and load on lug. Then
I calculated the thickness of lug using stress acting on lug and area of lug.

Calculation

2.3.4

I created CAD model of nose landing gear of aircraft. I prepared 2D model of strut using
calculated dimensions of strut. Then I prepared 3D model of strut from the 2D model by
extruding it. Similarly, I prepared 3D model of drag strut and cylinder. Then I extruded a circle
of diameter of piston to length of piston for preparing 3D model of piston. Finally, I created
cross section of side view of lug and extruded it to the thickness of lug. After that, I assembled
parts of nose landing gear. I fixed cylinder of nose landing gear and assembled piston to it. Then
I attached strut to piston and attached drag strut to lug and piston.
 Modelling

2.3.5

I analyzed design of nose landing gear using FEA in ANSYS. I assigned aluminum alloy
material to strut and lug, Titanium Alloy to piston and steel material to drag strut of nose landing
gear. Then I generated mesh of nose landing gear. After that, I assigned boundary conditions of
nose landing gear and analyzed the design. I found maximum equivalent stress, maximum
equivalent strain and maximum deformation of strut to be 258 MPa, n mm/mm and n mm
respectively. Similarly, I found maximum deformation, maximum equivalent strain and
maximum equivalent stress of piston to be n mm, n mm/mm and 258 MPa respectively and of
drag strut to be I found maximum deformation, maximum equivalent strain and maximum
equivalent stress of strut to be n mm, n mm/mm and 258 MPa respectively. I realized that
maximum equivalent stress, maximum equivalent strain and maximum deformation of all parts
were within allowable range.

ANALYSIS

2.4 PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

2.4.1

In analysis of nose landing gear using ANSYS, I observed high stress on piston. The stress could
deform the piston and cause failure of the piston, so I optimized design of piston to increase
reliability of nose landing gear. I studied research papers about optimizing piston and learned
that using piston of larger diameter could decrease stress on piston. Then I increased diameter of
piston in 2D model of the piston in SolidWorks. After that, I extruded the modified 2D model of
piston and assembled with other components. I analyzed modified piston design where I found
that stress was decreased. I found maximum equivalent stress on piston to be lower than
allowable stress for Titanium Alloy.

2.4.2

In analysis of nose landing gear in ANSYS, I observed large deformation of drag strut. I realized
that the large deformation of drag strut would fail the nose landing gear and cause accident
during landing, so I investigated the reason for large deformation of drag strut. I realized that it
was due to low width of drag strut due to which the drag strut of landing gear was not strong for
handling load of landing. To increase strength of drag strut, I increased width of drag strut in
SolidWorks. I conducted analysis of drag strut in ANSYS where I observed that deformation on
drag strut was decreased. I observed that maximum deformation of drag strut was lower than
permissible deformation for drag strut of nose landing gear.

2.5 CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

I determined design parameters of nose landing gear using specifications of an existing aircraft. I
selected appropriate materials for parts of nose landing gear considering loads acting on them. I
prepared design of nose landing gear of an aircraft and analyzed it using FEA in ANSYS.

1.6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

I prepared the proposal draft report and submitted to the mentor and department to get the
approval for the work. After that, I prepared the team and collected the study materials and
software to perform the project design work. I prepared the Gant chart including every steps of
the work and time required to complete them. I also fragmented work and distributed in team for
parallel flow of work. I made and handed log sheet of activities to mentor during weekly team
assembly.

I trailed the IS 5423:1989 standards to understand in depths regarding the shock absorber system.
I also followed the ICS 35.240.10 standard to make the CAD model of the landing gear of the
aircraft.

1.7 SUMMARY

The work to perform the landing gear FEA simulation was finished in the allocated time frame
and entire secondary motives of the work was achieved from the conducted analysis work.
Components of the landing gear such as strut and lug, piston etc. were opted and materials like
aluminum alloy, titanium alloy etc. were selected. After that, design calculation was conducted
and then CAD model of landing gear was made in SolidWorks. After that, Structural analysis
was performed in ANSYS and attained outputs were observed and found that all simulated
parameters were within anticipated ranges and prepared model was safe from failure.

I uplifted my knowledge about the landing gear and its operating system of the aircraft as well as
its designing and analysis procedures using various software. By leading the entire project, I
enhanced my managerial abilities as well as coordination skills.