See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/326979264

Design and Structural Analysis of Main Landing Gear for Lockheed T-33 Jet
Trainer Aircraft

Article · August 2018

DOI: 10.31695/IJERAT.2018.3304

CITATIONS READS

0 1,122

1 author:

Monisha Moni
Alliance University
2 PUBLICATIONS   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Monisha Moni on 12 August 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Journal of Engineering Research and
E-ISSN : 2454-6135
Advanced Technology (IJERAT)
Volume.4, Issue 8
DOI: http://doi.org/10.31695/IJERAT.2018.3304 August -2018

Design and Structural Analysis of Main Landing Gear for Lockheed

T-33 Jet Trainer Aircraft

Manjunath.S.V1, Monisha M2, Pooja S3

1
Assistant Professor, 2-3B.Tech Students
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
Alliance University, Bengaluru
India
____________________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT
This work is mainly focused on structural design and analysis of the main landing gear for a jet trainer aircraft, that is
economical and possess the high strength to weight ratio but still simple in design. An attempt is made to graphically
synthesis and understands the kinematics of the mechanism. ADAMS is used to verify the mobility of the design. Computer
3D modeling of the assembly is done in Unigraphics NX 10 and finite element analysis is performed to analyze stresses
developed during landing at the rate of descending. The linear static analysis is carried out to compute the deflections of the
main landing gear and to estimate the internal stresses with the help of finite element program ANSYS Workbench. The
simulation results are discussed in this paper.
Key Words – Main Landing Gear, Gear Mechanism, Mobility, Stress analysis.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
Landing gear being the major load carrying subsystems of the aircraft has its substantial influence on the aircraft structural
configuration itself. Hence there is a need to develop the landing gear with minimum weight, high performance and long life
cycle. The major function of the landing gear is to provide support during landing and takeoff. A landing gear system
comprises of many system and structural components. The system components consist of brake unit, antiskid system,
retraction system or suspension system components. The structural components consist of trailing arm, actuating cylinder,
shock absorber assembly, struts, and wheel axle and side brace arms. [1]

The major classification of landing gear arrangements is tail wheel type or conventional landing gear, tandem and tricycle
type [2]. In a tricycle landing gear arrangement, the nose landing gear has the capacity to carry 10%-20% of the total weight
of the aircraft and the two main landing gears have the capacity to carry 80%-90% of the total load [3]. Drag load, vertical
load and side load are the three different loads acting on the landing gear while landing. These loads cause bending, torsion
and axial compression on the landing gear’s strut [4]. The gear must be able to withstand taxing and the shock loads during
landing. Failure of landing gear results in devastating effects over an aircraft. Hence landing load plays a vital role in
structural design of the component.
Mechanism kinematics is another key area in the design. Gear design requirements depend on the individual aircraft’s need;
it is mainly concerned about the individual part geometry and assembly of the landing gear with the principles underlying
the spatial relationships and relative motions in mechanism. The finite element analysis of landing gear allows us to detect
the cause and regions of failure giving accurate results of stress and deformation allowing us to modify the regions of failure
and hence validate the results so obtained with theoretical calculations made for the same.
This paper is focused on exploring the design of landing gear, with a brief introduction to its kinematics followed by
detailed structural analysis of a light weight Lockheed T-33 shooting star, a subsonic American jet trainer aircraft weighing
15,000 lb. maximum landing weight. [5]

www.ijerat.com Page 1
Manjunath.S.V et. al., Design and Structural Analysis of Main Landing Gear …..

II. METHODOLOGY

In this paper two analysis are performed. First is the evaluation of kinematics of the mechanism and secondly the structural
study of main landing gear for a subsonic jet aircraft. The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is a
subsonic American jet trainer aircraft. It is a two seater trainer aircraft characterized by slender fuselage assembly with
extended nose cone. The wings are low mounted with slight dihedral. It consists of traditional tricycle arrangement that
include a pair of single wheeled landing gear and single wheeled nose landing gear. It is equipped with power plant Allison
J33-A-35 turbojet delivering 5,400 pounds of thrust. It carries maximum landing weight of 15,000 lbs [5]. The finite element
method theory and theory of kinematics is not explained here due to its wide complexity. Rather the procedures used to
create models and decisions made in creating the models are discussed.

A. Preliminary design and 3D CAD Modeling

The final assembly and sub components of the landing gear were 3D modeled in NX CAD 10.0 and assembled as in Figure
1. The major three sub- assemblies of the design are shock absorber assembly, hydraulic cylinder assembly and wheel & tire
assembly. For the better understanding of kinematics and to verify the mobility, ADAMS 15.1 is used.
Working mechanism shown in Figure 2 depicts the generic version of the landing gear extended in its deployed position.
Pins A, D, and F are considered as fixed or “grounded” points thus constraining their motion as the four bar chain
mechanism when deployed and retracts. Thus shock absorber assembly absorbs the entire load acting during action.

Figure 1: CAD model of the main landing gear

Figure 2: Mechanism of the main landing gear

B. Analysis in Workbench
The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) uses finite element method to solve any of the physical phenomenon. The governing
equations for the problem solved are typically formulated by partial differential equations in their original form.

(∫ ( ) ) (∑ ( ) )

Where, the functional is a function of the coordinates (xi) and the primary variable (ui) being displacements or velocities for
mechanical problems depending on the formulation. [6] The final assembly is thus imported into ANSYS WORKBENCH
18.1 and boundary conditions and material were assigned. Solver was used to calculate the maximum displacement and also
to identify the stress concentrations within the assembly.

www.ijerat.com Page 2
DOI : 10.31695/IJERAT.2018.3304
International Journal of Engineering Research And Advanced Technology, Vol.4, Issue 8, August-2018

Meshed model

The grid independence study is performed to eliminate/reduce the influence of the number of grids/grid size on the
computational results. A fine meshing is done with 100373 nodes and 59231 elements in Ansys Workbench. Unstructured
mesh is used in the present study as it is identified by irregular connectivity and this allows the use of any possible elements
in mesh generation and to obtain the smooth profiles.

Figure 3: Meshed model in Ansys workbench

Boundary conditions and Material Selection

Figure 4: Boundary conditions and load applied to the model in Ansys

 Pins A, D, and F are considered to be fixed or grounded points.
 Piston is allowed to displace up to 200 mm into the hydraulic cylinder.
 Pins A, E and F are considered as frictionless supports.
 Load of 27400 N is applied to the wheel axle in Z direction.

2. MATERIALS USED
Material used in the analysis is AISI 1030 Steel, Water quenched from 870°C, 650°C temper. It is high carbon steel with
maximum yield strength of 395 N/mm². It possesses moderate hardness and strength in the as-rolled condition with fair
machinability. It can be further hardened and strengthened by cold work.
Table 1: Mechanical properties of the material used
Tensile Young’s
Poisson’s
Material Strength modulus
ratio
(Mpa) (Gpa)

AISI 1030 Carbon

395 0.29 206
Steel

www.ijerat.com Page 3
Index Copernicus Value (2016): I C V = 75.48
Manjunath.S.V et. al., Design and Structural Analysis of Main Landing Gear …..

2.1 Design stress calculation

 Yield strength = 395Mpa
 Factor of Safety = 1.5 [7]

 Shear strength allowable = 0.5*Yield stress

 Shear stress allowable = 197.5 N/mm2

Therefore, Design stress = 131.6Mpa

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Equivalent Stress (Von-Mises)

Over several trails of the design component dimensions, the final gear design avoiding sharp edges and angles in the stress
concentrated areas, substituting smooth curves with big radii in order to reduce the stress concentrations is considered for
analysis and presented here. From the Figure 5 and 6, it is clear that the maximum stress of 118.66Mpa is induced in link 7
due to the applied impact load at wheel axle.

Figure 5: Maximum and minimum stresses induced in the model.

Figure 6: Detailed view of Maximum Equivalent Stress in Link 7

Minimum stress is identified at the region of head of hydraulic cylinder. Figure 6 depicts the detailed view of maximum
stress acting on the link 7. The maximum equivalent stress is within the design stress. As shown in the above Figure 7 a
maximum displacement observed is 219.89 mm.

www.ijerat.com Page 4
DOI : 10.31695/IJERAT.2018.3304
International Journal of Engineering Research And Advanced Technology, Vol.4, Issue 8, August-2018

Displacement

Figure 7: Maximum mobility obtained in the design

4. CONCLUSION
Components representing the primary geometry of the main landing gear of Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is a
subsonic American jet trainer aircraft was designed. ADAMS software serves the purpose of understanding essential
skeleton of the mechanism which however embodies the model dimensions and determine the path of motion in real time.

Ansys Workbench, finite element software showed the deflected structure of the landing gear in its maximally loaded
condition. Varied stress levels corresponding in the gear geometry was shown in the graphical pictorial outputs. Here it is
evident that the maximum stress levels are 118.66 MPa which is less than the allowable yield strength. From the design
stress calculation, it can be interpreted that the allowable stress is 197.5Mpa and design stress is 131.6Mpa, and from
numerical computation in workbench maximum stress is 118.66Mpa therefore we can conclude that the structure is safe and
satisfies the landing requirements set by Lockheed T-33 aircraft.

REFERENCES

[1]. Divakaran V.N., Dr Ravikumar G.V.V, Srinivas Rao Patnala “Aircraft Landing Gear Design and Development (White
paper)”, 2017.

[2]. Federal Aviation Administration, “AMT Airframe Handbook (FAA-H-8083-31), Chapter 13: Aircraft Landing Gear
Systems, Volume 1, 2012.

[3]. Praveen Joel P1, Dr. Vijayan R2, "Design and stress analysis of Nose Landing gear Barrel(NLGB)of a typical Naval
trainer aircraft IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Volume 11, Issue 2 Ver. III (Mar- Apr. 2014), PP
67-74.

[4]. R RaviKumar, P.K Dash, S R Basavaraddi ,“Design and Analysis of main landing gear structure of a transport aircraft
and fatigue life estimation for the critical lug”, International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering,
Volume-1, Issue-4, Oct-2013.

[5]. Barry Schiff on LOCKHEED T-33 SHOOTING STAR: TAMING THE T-BIRD, January 5, 2014.

[6]. C. V. Nielsen et al., “Modeling of Thermo-Electro-Mechanical Manufacturing Processes, Chapter 2, Finite Element
Formulations” SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-4643-8_2, © The
Author(s) 2013.

[7]. The 1.5 & 1.4 Ultimate Factors of Safety for Aircraft & Spacecraft history, Definition and applications by C. T. Modlin
J. J. Zipay February, 2014.

[8]. Dr. R K Bansal, ”A Textbook of strength of materials (Mechanics of solids)”, fifth edition, Dec 31, 2011.

[9]. Saeed Moaveni, “Finite Element Analysis (Theory and application with ANSYS)”, third edition, Prentice Hall, Inc.
2007.

www.ijerat.com Page 5
Index Copernicus Value (2016): I C V = 75.48
View publication stats