Chapter 1

Various configurations of Landing Gear:

Tyre Sizing:

Where W
W
Weight of the wheel
R
r
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.
W
W
= P A
p
A
p
= 2.3
2
r
d
w d R
| |

|
\ .

KE
braking
=1/2 V
2
stall
W
landing
/g
KE
braking
=1/2 V
2
vertical
W
landing
/g
KE absorbed =L S
T

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 =
B
w
AW
For transport aircraft A = 5.3
B = 0.315
D =
0.315
5.3 10712.412
= 98.8576 cm
W
w
= weight on wheel
10% = nose wheel
90% = main landing gear
Width A = 0.39 B = 0.480
Diameter =
0.480
0.39 10712.412 = 33.528 cm
Maximum pressure = 120 Psi = 828 KPa

Size Speed
Knots or
mph
Max
load
Lb
Max
width
In
Max
diameter
In
Rolling
Radius
In
Wheel
diameter
In
No of
plies
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.
crew
w 240kg =

7500
payload
w kg =

1278.34
fuel
w kg =
empty engine
w FI HT VT FW WW W = + + + + +
Flight equipment weight :
0.03 w w =
0.03 0.025 0.025 0.1 0.1
empty
w = + + + +
2
0
3
A
x
F w
x
=
1
0
3
B
x
F w
x
=
Length of the fuselage
21.37
f
L m =

Calculation:
Loads on landing gear = 0.9 W
0
= 0.9 23805.36 =21424.824 Kg
Loads on nose wheel landing gear = 0.1 23805.36 = 2380.536 Kg
Weight of the wheel W
w
=


= 10712.412 Kg
= 23616.824 lb
But in the bicycle and quadricycle configuration the tire is same




q-s
T
q
gear
N

1
2
T r
S d R =
0
(0.03 0.025 0.025 0.1 0.1)
e engine
W W W = + + + + +
23805.36(0.28) 601.009
e
W = +

7266.5098
e
W Kg =



0
0.1 2380.536
A
F W kg = =
0.9 23805.36 21424.829
A
F Kg = =
Moment about C.G

.
0
c g
E =
1
240 7.7 21 24.82 2380.536 7.804 2690.26 9.43 x + = +
21424.32 42098.85 x =

1.965 x m =


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:

=
2
1 23805.36 59
2 9.81

MJ
For vertical:

=
2
1 23805.36 98
2 9.81

MJ



1
2
T r
S d R =

1
3804 15.6
2
T
S =
= 9.144cm

2
2
98 0.48
9.14 10
2 9.81 0.8 2.9 0.8
S

=


S=210.93cm







23805.36 10.9 9.81
116.39
21.87
KN

= =



23805.36 17.59
187.828
21.87
KN

= =


23805.36 10.9 9.81
116.39
21.87
KN

= =



To find H
H = wheel dia +strut length+fuselage cross-section radius
=0.97+1+1.195= 3511.8Kg
Area of foot print



2
2
5805.982 9.81
0.1101
517.106 10
w
P
W
A m
p

= = =