Unit 5

LANDING GEAR AND SUBSYSTEMS

• The bicycle landing gear has the aft wheel so far behiend the c.g. that the
aircraft must takeoff and land in a flat attitude, which limits this type of
gear to aircraft with high lift at low angles of attack (i.e., high-aspect-ratio
wings with large camber and/or flaps).
• Taildragger gear is also called "conventional“ landing gear, because it was
the most widely used Arrangement during the first 40 years of aviation.
Taildragger gear provides more propeller clearance, has less drag and
weight, and allows the wing to generate more lift for rough-field operation
than does tricycle gear.
• The most commonly used arrangement today is the "tricycle" gear, with
two main wheels aft of the c.g. and an auxiliary wheel forward of the c.g ..
With a tricycle landing gear, the c.g. is ahead of the main wheels so that
aircraft is stable on the ground and can be landed at a fairly large crab
angle (i.e., nose not aligned with the runway). Also, tricycle landing gear
improves forward visibility on the ground and permits a flat cabin floor for
passenger and cargo loading.
• Quadricycle gear is much like bicycle gear but with wheels at the sides of
the fuselage. Quadricycle gear also requires a flat takeoff and landing
attitude. It is used on the B-52 and several cargo planes where it has the
advantage of permitting a cargo floor very low to the ground.
• it is very common to use twin nose-wheels to retain some control in the
event of a nose-wheel flat tire. Similarly, multiple main wheels (i.e., total
of four or more) are desirable for safety. When multiple wheels are used in
tandem, they are attached to a structural element called a "bogey,“ or
"truck," which is attached to the end of the shock-absorber strut.
 TIRE SIZING
• "wheel" is the circular metal object upon which the rubber "tire" is
mounted. The "brake" inside the wheel slows the aircraft by increasing the
rolling friction. However, the term "wheel" is frequently used to mean the
entire wheel/brake/tire assembly.
• The tires are sized to carry the weight of the aircraft. Typically the main
tires carry about 900Jo of the total aircraft weight. Nose tires carry only
about 10 % of the static load but experience higher dynamic loads during
landing.
• For early conceptual design, the engineer can copy the tire sizes of a
similar design or use a statistical approach. Table 11.1 provides equations
developed from data in Ref. 1 for rapidly estimating main tire sizes
(assuming that the main tires carry about 900Jo of the aircraft weight).
• These calculated values for diameter and width should be increased about
30 % if the aircraft is to operate from rough unpaved runways.
• Nose tires can be assumed to be about 60-100 % the size of the main tires.
The front tires of a bicycle or quadricycle-gear aircraft are usually the
same size as the main tires. Taildragger aft tires are about a quarter to a
third the size of the main tires .
• Calculation of the static loads on the tires is illustrated in Fig. 11.5 and Eqs.
(11.1-11.3). The additional dynamic load on the nose tires under a 10 fps
per second braking deceleration is given in Eq. (11.4). Note that these
loads are divided by the total number of main or nose tires to get the load
per tire (wheel) "Ww," which is used for tire selection
 SHOCK ABSORBERS
• The landing gear must absorb the shock of a bad landing and smooth out
the ride when taxiing.
• Many World War I fighters used a rigid axle mounted with some vertical
movement. The axle was attached to the aircraft with strong rubber
chords ("bungees") that stretched as the axle moved upward. This is rarely
seen today.
• The solid spring gear is used in many general-aviation aircraft (especially
Cessna products). The solid spring is as simple as possible, but is slightly
heavier than other types of gear.
• the solid-spring gear deflects with some lateral motion instead of straight
up and down. This lateral motion tends to scrub the tires side:ways against
the runway, wearing them out. The solid spring has no damping other
than this scrubbing action. The aircraft thus tends to bounce a lot much
like a car with bad shock-absorbers.
• The levered. bungee-chord gear was very common in early light aircraft
such as the Piper Cub. The gear leg is pivoted at the fuselage. Rubber
bungee chords underneath the gear are stretched as the gear deflects
upward and outwards. This gear is light in weight but is high in drag. This
gear also causes lateral scrubbing of the tires
• The oleopneumatic shock strut, or "oleo," is the most common type of
shock-absorbing gear in use today (Fig. 11.9). The oleo concept was
patented in 1915 as a recoil device for large cannons. The oleo combines a
spring effect using compressed air with a damping effect using a piston
which forces oil through small hole (orifice). For maximum efficiency,
many oleos have a mechamsm for varying the size of the orifice as the
oleo compresses ("metered orifice").
• When used as a shock-strut, the oleo itself must provide the full required
amount of wheel deflection, which can lengthen the total landing-gear
height. Also, the oleo strut must be strong enough to handle the lateral
and braking loads of the wheels. To repair or replace the oleo strut, the
entire wheel assembly must be removed because it is attached to the
bottom of the strut.
• The triangulated gear is similar to the levered bungee gear. When the
triangulated gear is deflected, an oleopneumatic shock absorber is
compressed. This provides a leveraged effect in which the oleo can be
shorter than the required wheel travel. This is especially useful for carrier-
based aircraft such as the A-7 that require large amounts of wheel travel
to absorb the carrier-landing impact loads
• On a triangulated gear, the oleo can be replaced without removing the
wheel assembly. The wheel lateral and braking loads are carried by the
solid gear legs, which reduces the oleo weight. However, the complete
triangulated gear is usually a little heavier than the oleo shock-strut gear.
Also, there is a tire-scrubbing effect that shortens tire life.
• The triangulated gear is sometimes seen on smaller aircraft using rubber
blocks or springs in compression instead of an oleopneumatic shock
absorber. The rubber blocks or springs can be inside the fuselage which
streamlines the exposed part of the gear but requires the gear leg to
support the aircraft's weight in a cantilevered fashion. This increases the
gear weight.
• The trailing-link, or levered, gear resembles the triangulated gear, but with
the solid gear leg running aft rather than laterally. This gear 1s common
for carrier-based aircraft such as the F-18 where it provides the large
amounts of gear travel required for carrier landings. Typically the pivot
point of the lower gear leg is slightly in front of the tire, less than one tire
radius in front of the tire.
 GEAR-RETRACTION GEOMETRY
• poor location for the retracted gear can ruin an otherwise good design
concept. A bad choice for the retracted position can chop up the aircraft
structure (increasing weight), reduce the internal fuel volume, or create
additional aerodynamic drag.
• Figure 11.12 shows the options for main-landing-gear retracted positions.
Locating the gear in the wing, in the fuselage, or in the wing-fuselage
junction produces the smallest aerodynamic penalty but tends to chop up
the structure. Gear in the wing reduces the size of the wing box, which
increases weight and may reduce fuel volume. Gear in the fuselage or
wing-fuselage junction may interfere with the longerons. However, the
aerodynamic benefits of these arrangements outweigh the drawbacks for
higher-speed aircraft.
• Virtually all civilian jet transports retract the gear into the wing-fuselage
junction. Most low-wing fighters retract the gear into the wing or wing-
fuselage junction, while mid- and high-wing fighters retract the gear into
the fuselage.
• While some slower aircraft retract the gear into the wing, fuselage, or
wing-fuselage junction, many retract the gear into the nacelles or a
separate gear pod. This reduces weight significantly because the wing and
fuselage structure is uninterrupted.
• The wing-podded arrangement is rarely seen in Western aircraft designs
(A-10), but is used in Soviet designs even for jet transports and bombers.
The aerodynamic penalty is minimized by placing the pods at the trailing
edge of the wing, where some "area-ruling" benefit is obtained.
• The fuselage-podded arrangement is common for high-winged military
transports where the fuselage must remain open for cargo. The drag
penalty of the pods can be substantial.
• Retraction of the gear into the nacelles behind the engine is typical for
propeller-driven aircraft. For jet-engined aircraft, nacelle-mounted landing
gear must go alongside the engine, which widens the nacelle, increasing
the drag.
• Most mechanisms for landing-gear retraction are based upon the "fourbar
linkage." This uses three members (the fourth bar being the aircraft
structure) connected by pivots. The four-bar linkage provides a simple and
lightweight gear because the loads pass through rigid members and
simple pivots.
• Figure 11.13b shows the typical retraction arrangement for nose wheels.
The diagonal arm is called a "drag brace" because it withstands the
aerodynamic loads (as well as braking loads). The drag brace breaks at the
middle for retraction.
• The drag brace may be behind the wheel with the gear retracting
rearward or it may be in front of the wheel with the gear retracting
forward. The latter is preferable because the air loads will blow the gear
down in the event of a hydraulic failure.
• In Fig. 11.13c the vertical gear member breaks for retraction instead of the
drag brace. This has the advantage of reducing the length of the retracted
gear, but is usually heavier. This gear was used on the DC-3 and several
World War II bombers.
• Figure 11.13d shows the use of a sliding pivot rather than a four-bar
linkage. The sliding motion is frequently provided by a wormscrew
mechanism that is rotated to retract the gear. This is usually heavier than a
fourbar linkage because the entire length of the wormscrew must be
strong enough for the landing-gear loads. However, this gear is very simple
and compact.