DOI: 10.65520/erciyesfen.1933774 ISSN: 1012-2354

ANALYSIS OF LOAD TRANSFER MECHANISMS AND STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE IN AIRCRAFT LANDING GEAR SYSTEMS

Aslı Durmuşoğlu, Şahin Yıldırım
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In the first touchdown phase, aircraft landing gear systems experience highly transient impact loads. Complex internal force transfer mechanisms govern the structural response of the landing gear assembly. Accurate understanding of the transient reaction forces is important for the understanding of the load redistribution characteristics and the identification of the structurally critical regions within multi-link landing gear mechanisms.In the present study, a planar rigid-body multi-body dynamics (MBD) model of a passenger aircraft rear landing gear mechanism was developed to investigate internal reaction-force transmission behavior during loading conditions induced by initial touchdown. The main goal of the study is not to recreate the entire shock absorption process of the landing gear system but to investigate the dominant load transfer paths and transient member-level reaction forces taking place in the initial impact phase. The extracted reaction forces from the MBD model were then used for preliminary structural assessment using finite element analysis (FEA).Transient distributions of reaction forces on the main strut, lateral members, and locking links were computed in order to characterize the hierarchical load transfer behavior within the landing gear assembly. Along with the representative transient peak loading conditions, comparative structural assessments were also performed for titanium and aluminum alloy configurations considering the equivalent stress, total deformation, safety factor, and fatigue-sensitive areas.The results indicate that the main strut and adjacent linkage members are the primary load-transfer path during initial touchdown and that the locking members undergo significant transient axial reaction forces associated with short duration impact redistribution. The comparative structural assessments also reveal that the titanium alloy configuration exhibits reduced levels of deformation and enhanced structural durability attributes when compared to the aluminum alloy model under the examined loading conditions.The study offers an idealized yet physically interpretable context of member-level transient load-transfer behavior and its indicative structural implications for multi-link passenger aircraft landing gear mechanisms.

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