Abstract
Aircraft landing gear assemblies comprise of various subsystems working in unison to enable functionalities such as taxiing, take-off and landing. As development cycles and prototyping iterations begin to shorten, it is important to develop and improve practical methodologies to meet certain design metrics. This paper presents an efficient methodology that applies high-fidelity multi-disciplinary design optimization techniques to commercial landing gear assemblies, for weight, cost, and structural performance by considering both structural and dynamic behaviours. First, a simplified landing gear assembly model was created to complement with an accurate slave link subassembly, generated based of drawings supplied from the industrial partner, Safran Landing Systems. Second, a Multi-Body Dynamic (MBD) analysis was performed using realistic input motion signals to replicate the dynamic behaviour of the physical system. The third stage involved performing topology optimization with results from the MBD analysis; this can be achieved through the utilization of the Equivalent Static Load Method (ESLM). Lastly, topology results were generated and design interpretation was performed to generate two designs of different approaches. The first design involved trying to closely match the topology results and resulted in a design with an overall weight savings of 67%, peak stress increase of 74%, and no apparent cost savings due to complex features. The second design focused on manufacturability and achieved overall weight saving of 36%, peak stress increase of 6%, and an estimated 60% in cost savings.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Joseph Lan and James Ning at Safran Landing Systems Canada for their expertise and guidance throughout the course of this research. This research was supported by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Safran Landing Systems Canada. The contributions made are greatly appreciated.
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Wong, J., Ryan, L. & Kim, I.Y. Design optimization of aircraft landing gear assembly under dynamic loading. Struct Multidisc Optim 57, 1357–1375 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-017-1817-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-017-1817-y