Aircraft Landing Gear Dynamics: Simulation and Control

SUMMARY

The landing gear is an inevitable system for the aircraft. It absorbs the energy of the landing impact and carries the aircraft weight at all ground operations, including take off, taxiing, and towing. Numerical simulation has become an invaluable tool for the assessment of landing gear dynamics as well as of aircraft/landing gear interaction. This paper gives an overview of the landing gear requirements and illustrates landing gear operational conditions, i.e., the shimmy problem, the dynamics at touch down and at ground roll. Furthermore, three software packages used in the simulation of aircraft ground dynamics are presented. A look at flight simulators and landing gear test facilities follows. Finally, the possible application of controlled landing gears is discussed.