Comprehensive design of an oleo-pneumatic nose landing gear strut

Abstract

A comprehensive design cycle of a nose landing gear strut having an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber for a lightweight aircraft is proposed. Design and analysis of a retractable nose landing gear according to Airworthiness Standards FAA FAR Part 23 have been carried out. This research is focused on mathematical modeling of an oleo-pneumatic strut with an analytical solution of design variables at static and dynamic loading conditions. The variation of spring and damping characteristics of an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber with the stroke length is also presented. Feasibility of equivalent mechanical spring and damper along with comparison of pneumatic as air spring and oleo as hydraulic damper is studied. Numerical integration technique was used to solve the dynamic model of an oleo-pneumatic strut with forcing function of an impact force during touch down scenario. Energy conservation principle was used to determine height required for drop tests. Parametric study of anteversion angle within the constraints of ground clearance and volume in the fuselage determined an optimized angle of nose landing gear strut. Based on the maximum pressure and impact force encountered during landing, the hydraulic cylinder and piston design was finalized. In order to validate the proposed design cycle for preliminary phase, a structural integrity of cylinder and piston assembly was carried out using finite element analysis. Deformation, maximum stresses and factor of safety validated the proposed design cycle of a nose landing gear strut specific to a general aviation aircraft having all up mass of 1600 Kg.