Customer Application | Reinhard Lernbeiss, TU Wien, Institute of Mechanics and Mechatronics

Simulation of the Dynamic Behavior of

Aircraft Landing Gear Systems
Simulation and the resulting prediction of the dynamic behavior of an
aircraft and its landing gear system during ground maneuvers is an
essential part in the design process. A realistic estimation of unwanted
oscillations, such as gear walk and shimmy, for the landing gear and
whole aircraft can be readily obtained with an MBS-model. It is then
possible to adjust the model for changes in the structural design of the
airframe and the landing gear so as to optimize the aircraft stability.

INTRODUCTION pre-select certain values of residual vertical the asymmetric struc-

Vibrations resulting from the elastic behavior speeds upon touch-down. Additionally, the ture of the landing gear
or from dynamic loads may result in material application of the brakes was performed itself, as occurs on
fatigue and failure. Loads acting on the land- by an automatic braking system combined most main
ing gear at touch-down are of major inter- with an anti-skid system. landing
est. Addressing these issues during testing is gear
crucial. Elastic properties of the airframe and DYNAMIC PHENOMENA
the landing gear have an essential influence Undesired oscillations can occur in the
on their dynamic behavior. Emphasis was longitudinal, lateral and yaw directions.
placed on developing an “elastic” model of Longitudinal vibrations are normally
the whole aircraft so as to realistically simu- induced by changes of vertical and
late a complete landing and rollout with its longitudinal loads acting on the
braking, and in particular, the influence of wheels. They can be generated
the landing gear. by landing
To demonstrate “Emphasis was placed on impact or
the capabilities of developing an “elastic” model during
this approach an of the whole aircraft...” braking
existing aircraft and are
(Airbus A320-200) was selected. To control commonly called gear-
the aircraft during flare, touch-down and walk. The lateral and
roll-out, a control system was introduced, yaw oscillations are
capable of achieving any desired angle of called shimmy oscilla-
the aircraft in relation to the runway at the tions when generated
exact moment of touch-down. This enabled by self excitation forces.
the simulation of possible crosswind condi- However, such vibrations may also be in- systems, may be a source of unstable con-
tions as well as different landing techniques duced by asymmetric conditions occurring ditions, see Fig. 1. Rolling motions of the
applied by the pilot. It was possible to at landings with prevailing crosswind. Even wheels about their longitudinal axis also
exist.

SIMULATION MODELS
To generate a good approximation of the
mass distribution of an aircraft like the Airbus
A320 and the structural properties, existing
and accessible data were used together
forward forward with the statistical mass approximation
method published by Raymer. These data
roll- were the main sources used to establish
oscillation
a CAD-model of all of the structures. To
comply with the goal of simulating different
loading cases of passengers, cargo and fuel,
a balance calculation similar to those applied
before each flight of the real aircraft was
used. The data obtained for the air-frame
longitudinal-oscillation lateral-oscillation yaw-oscillation structure was pre-processed to facilitate the
gear walk
generation of an elastic model in SIMBEAM.
shimmy
The elastic structure was assembled with
Fig. 1: Dynamic phenomena the use of beam elements accounting for

2 | SIMPACK News | September 2010

 Reinhard Lernbeiss, TU Wien, Institute of Mechanics and Mechatronics | Customer Application

Fig. 2: Airbus A320; structure of aircraft

the main parts of the fuselage and the

whole wings. Other elements, for example
the foremost part of the fuselage in front
of the nose landing gear, as well as the
empennage, are considered rigid, but
have the correct mass-properties and were
attached to the corresponding elastic beam
element. Implementing beam elements
to generate elastic structures reduced the
required time for simulation. Different
beam elements were defined between
certain markers and reflected a change
in structural properties. In addition, those
markers were set at positions to easily
accommodate major mass concentrations
and structural attachments, especially for
the wings and the landing gear, see Fig. 3.
To compensate for possible elements
which have no structural influence, for
example aircraft systems and fairings, the
masses were equally distributed along the
elastic beams between certain positions,
and the mass was adjusted accordingly. Fig. 3: Arrangement of flexible beams of fuselage and wings

SIMPACK News | September 2010 | 3

 Customer Application | Reinhard Lernbeis, TU Wien, Institute of Mechanics and Mechatronics

1st Eigenmode 2nd Eigenmode lift and drag forces were calculated using the
basic aerodynamic equations acting on the
corresponding surfaces belonging to each
marker. The angle of attack is measured for
each section of the wing considered, taking
flexibility of the wings into account.
With this aerodynamic model, neither static
nor dynamic stability of the aircraft model
is possible. This is accomplished by using
4th Eigenmode artificial stability generated by a flight
control model which simply generates forces
on the horizontal stabilizer and elevator to
produce flight stability and control.
In the case of a real aircraft, the vertical
speed upon touch-down is minimized. For
the simulation, however, pre-determined
vertical speeds are required for the intended
parameter variations. Therefore, a schedule
for the target vertical speed, dependent

Fig. 4: Eigenmodes

All other elements were added as rigid

mass elements. This facilitated changing the
loading of the aircraft and the amount of
fuel for simulation of different landing mass
and centers of gravity. Some of the resulting
eigenmodes of the elastic aircraft model are
shown in Fig. 4.

LANDING GEAR
A similar procedure was applied to establish
elastic models of the landing gear system.
The elastic structure of the landing gear
model was comprised of a system of beam
elements. The method of using distributed
masses and mass concentrations, where
needed, was also applied. To generate
appropriate forces acting on the wheels and
tires, a modified HSRI-tyre model was used.
An automatic braking system in conjunction
with an anti-skid system was used to achieve
braking action during the rollout phase. The
functions of these systems were basically SIMPACK
reproduced by models programmed model
with MATLAB® and Simulink® using co-
simulation. data aerodynamic data
aquisition wings aquisition
CONTROLLING OF THE LANDING SIMPACK SIMPACK
MANEUVer output flare trajectory intput
To accomplish a realistic landing-flare, it
is imperative to incorporate aerodynamic reverse thrust aerodynamic
forces. However, one of the goals is to hor. stabilizer
output
keep total simulation time low. Therefore, autobrake engine thrust
the aerodynamic model was kept as simple selection
as possible and only those aerodynamic
yaw & roll brakes &
loads were applied which are essential to directional
pre-selection
generate a nearly realistic landing maneuver control
and which have possible influence on the
elastic structure with respect to the dynamic
behavior of the landing gear. On the wings Fig. 5 and 6: Landing simulation

4 | SIMPACK News | September 2010

 Reinhard Lernbeiss, TU Wien, Institute of Mechanics and Mechatronics | Customer Application

the design of the landing gear and for the CONCLUSION

flight test later in the development process. To facilitate the design process, it is advan-
Therefore, it is imperative to conduct suf- tageous to implement and use simplified
ficient simulations of that test in advance models to simulate a number of operational
to save resources and time. In addition, aspects to prevent undesired and costly but
the simulation of drop tests of the landing necessary improvements during flight tests. It
gear with flexible structure models enables is of utmost importance to have an easy to
a touch-down with different side slips (yaw use and changeable model at any stage of
angles) and the motion of the de-rotation development to predict the behavior of the
of the aircraft, which is the lowering of the landing gear. It is then possible to modify the
nose after touch-down of the main landing design or to make appropriate adjustments
gear. to a shimmy damper or similar device at an
early stage of design. Implementing a flexible
SIMULATION OF LANDING structure in the simulation model is essential.
Fig 7: Nose landing gear; Airbus A320 AN AIRCRAFT In addition, it is possible to produce a realistic
It is crucial to have sufficient model detail landing maneuver using only limited applica-
to gain insight into the dynamic behavior tion of aerodynamic calculations and save
upon height, was introduced. To simulate of landing gear. Fig. 8 computational time to fa-
crosswind conditions upon landing and presents a comparative “It is crucial to have cilitate the design process
corresponding landing techniques used by study of the relative sufficient model detail to by testing various structural
the pilot or the automatic landing system, displacement and gain insight into the configurations early in the
certain angles of roll and bank were twisting of the wheel dynamic behavior of design process. The model
selected. These angles were kept constant axis of the main landing the landing gear.” presented enables the use
during flare until touch-down of the main gear using different of real-time simulations
wheels by a separate controlling system. modeling techniques of the elastic properties used in flight simulators, and is necessary for
of the aircraft structure. It can be seen that aircraft that use an extensive amount of flex-
SIMULATION SET-UP the results may differ quite significantly. ible composite components.
The model of the elas-
tic aircraft structure
together with the land-
ing gear system in the
MBS-software SIMPACK
was simulated with the
controlling system of the
aircraft, programmed in
Simulink using a co-simu-
lation. Simulink was used
for aerodynamic forces,
anti-skid, autobrake sys-
tem and steering on the
runway during roll out.
Thrust control during
flare and reverse thrust
were also provided, see
Fig. 5 and 6.

DROP TEST
SIMULATION
During the design and
development process, a
so-called drop test con-
ducted in a laboratory is
used. Here a single real
landing gear unit, loaded
with the appropriate
mass, falls onto a rotat-
ing drum which repre-
sents the moving runway
surface. This test is a vital
source of information
and the data generated
are used to optimize both Fig 8: Relative displacement of the wheel axis; different levels in modeling the aircraft structure

SIMPACK News | September 2010 | 5