Chapter 1

Various configurations of Landing Gear:

Tyre Sizing:

Where WW Weight of the wheel

Rr Rolling radius

D Diameter

W Width

Nearly 90% of aircraft load is carried by the main landing gear and
only 10% of the aircraft weight is carried by nose wheel, but it experiences high
dynamic load. Nose type size can be 60-100% of the main tire size, but in the
bicycle and quadricycle, the tire size can be same.

Operating tire at a lower internal pressure will greatly improve the tyre
weight and largest tire causing drag weight and space occupation.

WW = P Ap
Ap = 2.3 w d Rr
d
2

KEbraking=1/2 V2stall Wlanding/g

KEbraking=1/2 V2vertical Wlanding/g

KE absorbed =L ST

Gear retraction Geometry:

Loads on Landing Gear:

1. Vertical load factor

2. Spin up

3. Spring back

4. Braking

5. One wheel arrested

6. Turning loads

7. Taxing loads
 When aircraft touches the ground, the wheels are not rotating. Then after
a fraction of second it will spin up. It is called as spin up loads. Nearly 50% of the
actual load acting on the landing gear. Once it starts to rotate, the rearward force is
released and the gear strut springs back forward. This spring back load is greater
than or equal to spin up loads. Braking load can be estimated by braking co-
efficient (normally 0.8). The aircraft is subjected to drop lost to find out the
vertical load factors (from 23 to 48cm) .

Three Stages of Landing Gear Design:

1. Preliminary landing gear design

2. Primary landing gear design

3. Detailed landing gear design

1. Preliminary landing gear design:

Entire layout, shock absorbers, steering system, skit control, retraction

mechanism, cockpit requirement and strength. Shock absorber design is based on
types of configuration and stroke length.

2. Primary landing gear design:

Selection of tires, construction methods, temperature effects and tyre

friction. Kinetic analysis of the brakes, skit controls and wheels are performed in
this.

3. Detailed landing gear design:

Material selection locks, bushing seals and lubrication.

Tyre sizing:

Main whell diameter or width = AWwB

For transport aircraft A = 5.3

B = 0.315

D = 5.3 10712.4120.315

= 98.8576 cm

Ww = weight on wheel

10% = nose wheel

90% = main landing gear

Width A = 0.39 B = 0.480

Diameter = 0.39 10712.4120.480 = 33.528 cm

Maximum pressure = 120 Psi = 828 KPa

Size Speed Max Max Max Rolling Wheel No of

Knots or load width diameter Radius diameter plies
mph Lb In In In In
12.5-16 590 12800 12.75 38.4 15.6 16 12

Static Margin:

It is the distance between CG and neutral point. When static margin is

minimum, the lateral stability of aircraft is poor and when it is maximum, more
power is required to maneuver. Hence optimization of static margin in airplane is
required.

w crew 240kg
w payload 7500kg

w fuel 1278.34kg

wempty FI HT VT FW WW Wengine

Flight equipment weight :

w 0.03 w

wempty 0.03 0.025 0.025 0.1 0.1

x2
FA w0
x3

x1
FB w0
x3

Length of the fuselage

L f 21.37m

Calculation:

Loads on landing gear = 0.9 W0 = 0.9 23805.36 =21424.824 Kg

Loads on nose wheel landing gear = 0.1 23805.36 = 2380.536 Kg

Weight of the wheel Ww =

= 10712.412 Kg

= 23616.824 lb

But in the bicycle and quadricycle configuration the tire is same

 -s

N gear

1
ST d Rr
2

We W0 (0.03 0.025 0.025 0.1 0.1) Wengine

We 23805.36(0.28) 601.009

We 7266.5098Kg
FA 0.1 W0 2380.536kg

FA 0.9 23805.36 21424.829 Kg

Moment about C.G

c. g 0

240 7.7 21 24.82 x1 2380.536 7.804 2690.26 9.43

21424.32x 42098.85

x 1.965m
Distance between nose L.G and main LG=7.804+1.96

=9.764m

No of nose wheels in single strut = 2380.53/5805.99

=1

No of main wheels in single strut = 10712.412/5805.99 =2

For horizontal:

1 23805.36 59 2
= MJ
2 9.81

For vertical:

1 23805.36 982
= MJ
2 9.81

1
ST d Rr
2

1
ST 3804 15.6
2

= 9.144cm
 982 0.48
S 9.14 102
2 9.81 0.8 2.9 0.8

S=210.93cm

23805.36 10.9 9.81

116.39 KN
21.87

23805.36 17.59
187.828KN
21.87
 23805.36 10.9 9.81
116.39 KN
21.87

To find H

H = wheel dia +strut length+fuselage cross-section radius

=0.97+1+1.195= 3511.8Kg

Area of foot print

Ww 5805.982 9.81
AP 0.1101m2
p 517.106 10 2