Final

Report on stress analysis of Twin Otter Landing
Gear considering Runway Gradient Using

FEM
Presented By: Supervisor:

Aashis Dahal (PUR075BME001) Bharosh Kumar Yadav
Mandip Shrestha(PUR075BME039) Department of Mechanical Engineering
Nabin Parajuli(PUR075BME048) IOE, Purwanchal Campus, Dharan
Prabesh Babu Sodari(PUR075BME056)
Date: Feb 8, 2023

Introduction
• Aviation is one of the most reliable and safest modes of transportation in today’s world.
• In the airlines Industry, Twin Otters have served for more than 57 years.
• It is an extremely versatile aircraft known for its ability to operate in harsh terrain as well as the challenging
weather conditions.
• Its durability and STOL capabilities make it an ideal choice for regional operation as well as short-haul air
transportation to search and rescue, firefighting, and medical evacuation.
• The Twin Otter's popularity is due in large part to its ruggedness and ease of maintenance. This aircraft is
designed to be simple and reliable, with a focus on safety.
• The dynamic weather and geography of Nepal make Twin Otter a popular choice among the airlines which is
why 25 Twin Otters have operated in Nepal till date while 6 Twin Otters are actively operating in Nepal
(CAAN, 2020).
Problem Statement
• Various research studies show that most of the crashes happen either immediately after the takeoff or
immediately after the touchdown.
• About 50% of aircraft crashes take place due to landing gear failure.
• Many Twin otters operating in Nepal have crashed or faced the accidents as well.
• Most of the runways constructed in Nepal's hilly region have a high gradient.
• A high gradient of the runway contributes to the increased stress as well as the vibration on the landing gear.
• The stress and the vibration might be sever-enough to cause damage to the landing gear system hence
leading to its failure.
The list of some airports in Nepal is given below with the runway gradient, the number of accidents
around the airport premises, and the total deaths of passengers.
Name of Airport Elevation(meter) Location Runway gradient Total Accidents Total Fatality
Tenzing Hillary/ Lukla Airport 2846 Solukhumbu 11.7% 9 23
Jomsom Airport 2736 Mustang 1.75% 3 15
Simikot Airport 2971 Humla - 4 0

Objective
• To study the Stress distribution on the landing gear during touchdown.
• To study the effect of the runway gradient on the performance of the landing gear.
• To determine the critical areas for stress concentration.
• To recommend for Design and Optimization.
• To learn and use Finite Element Analysis tools.
Literature Review
• Books by Daniel P. Raymer, “Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach” and “Aircraft Design” by
Mohammad H Sadraey have made detailed design considerations related to aircraft including design
principles and formulae for major components.
• Norman S. Currey published the book “Aircraft Landing Gear Design: Principles and Practices” in 1988
which includes most of the engineering and theoritical aspects and design parameters for the landing gear.
• “Finite element analysis of passenger aircraft landing gear for structural and fatigue safety” by S.G. Aftab and
his co-authors which includes prototype development of nose landing gear of Boeing 737 using Catia and
FEA using Ansys software to calculate FOS, Von-Misses stress and deformations. Finally, the comparison for
the above parameters is made between three different materials.
Landing Gear
• The landing gear is the principal support of the airplane when parked, taxiing, taking off, or
landing.
• The most common type of landing gear consists of wheels, but airplanes can also be
equipped with floats for water operations or skis for landing on snow.
• The configurations of the landing gear varies depending on the designed load and the
desired performance.
• There are two basic configurations of airplane landing gear; conventional gear or tail wheel
gear and the tricycle gear.
1. Conventional Landing gear arrangement 2. Tricycle Landing gear arrangement.

• The most crucial stages of aircraft operation include landing and takeoff.
• The landing gear supports the aircraft during landing and while it is on the ground.
• Landing gear must be strong enough to withstand the forces of landing when the aircraft is fully loaded.
• To aid with the potentially high impact of landing, most landing gear have a means of either absorbing shock
or accepting shock and distributing it such that the structure is not damaged.
• In addition to strength, a major design goal is to have the gear assembly be as light as possible.
• The material selection and stress analysis thus become an important aspect of design considerations.
Nomenclature
Procedure
• Phase I - Design Considerations:
Only the limited dimension of aircraft components are publicly available. So the design principles and
considerations to be followed are supported by limited dimensions available on the internet and some
reference books.
The objectives of Design considerations are:
 To make landing gear geometry more accurate with close dimensional tolerance.
 To enhance the authenticity of the result derived from simulation.
 To ensure that the designed landing gear is functional as per requirement and aircraft model.
 To meet the project's objectives and enhance the work's credibility.
Material Selection:
All the materials are selected according to standard as mentioned by the manufacturers.
Name of components Materia used Poisons ratio
Wheel Hub A356 0.33
Axle AISI 4340 0.29
Outer/ inner cylinder 300M 0.28
Orifice platte 300M 0.28
Tapered Metering pin 300M 0.28
Torque arm TIMETAL 834 0.32
Source :Raymer, 1992

Design Formulae
1. Stroke Length of Shock Absorber:
Where,
2. Length of Oleo Strut during static condition:
Length of Oleo Strut during full extension:

3. Oleo diameter:
Internal Oleo Diameter
External Oleo Diameter
4. Tire Sizing and selection:

Diameter of Tire
Width of Tire
Load on Tire
Pavement / Footprint Area
Where,
Calculations
Parameters Units
RatedLoad 2350 lbs
Rated Inflation 65 Psi
Static Loaded Radius (SLR) = Rolling Radius () 6.9 inch
Flat Tire Radius (FTR) 4.80 inch
Aspect Ratio 0.920
Inflated Dimension
Maximum Outside Diameter 17.5 inch
Minimum Outside Diameter 16.85 inch
Maximum Cross-section Width 6.25 inch
Minimum Cross-section Width 5.9 inch
Maximum Shoulder Diameter 15.45 inch
Maximum Shoulder Width 5.5 inch
Wheel
Wheel (Rim) size 6.00- 6 inch
Width Between Flanges 5.00 inch
Specified Rim Diameter 6 inch
Flange Height 0.75 inch
Min Ledge Width 0.90 inch
Source: Goodyear Aviation Tire and Rubber Company, 2023

Rolling radius () = 6.9 inch (from tire catalogue)
Tire Stroke () =
= (17.5/2)-6.9
= 1.85 inch
Thus, Stroke Length (S) =
= 6.68 inch
Where,
Length of Oleo Strut during static condition = 11.13 inch
Length of Oleo Strut during fully extended condition = 27.83 inch

We have,
For nose landing gear, only 12% of total aircraft weight during landing is to be considered.
4428 lb
Oleo diameter:
• Phase II – Solid Modeling:
The design parameters that we have obtained from the previous design calculation are used to
produce solid modelling of the landing gear.
Using a solidworks software a simplified model of the landing gear was created.
The objectives of solid modelling are given below:
 To create a detailed, 3D representation of the Landing Gear.
 To provide the foundation for the stress analysis using the finite element analysis (FEA) method.
 To improve the design of the landing gear.
 To ensure the safety and performance of the landing gear on gradient runways.
Upper
Chamber(Nitrogen) Metering Pin
Orifice plate
Torque Arm
Oil
Figure: Cad design of Twin otter Nose Section-view

Landing Gear
Works Remaining
• FEM Analysis:
ANSYS 2022 will be used to perform FEM analysis.
The 3D model will be transformed into the finite element model using suitable
meshing parameters.
The boundary conditions of the runway gradient will be imposed for both the static as
well as the dynamic loading conditions.
The Finite Element Analysis will be performed to obtain the solution regarding the
stress variation due to the both static and dynamic loading conditions and runway
gradient.
Finally the results are post processed to improve the landing gear performance as well
as the design recommendations.
References
[1] CAAN, “Annual Report 2019-2020,” 2020. [Online]. Available:
https://caanepal.gov.np/storage/app/uploads/public/5ff/2c3/8de/5ff2c38de0957043775720.pdf
[2] W. Kruger, I. Besselink, D. Cowling, and D. B. Doan, “Aircraft landing gear simulation and analysis,” Veh.
Syst. Dyn., vol. 28, pp. 119–158, 1997.
[3] CAAN, “CAAN Safety Report 2022,” 2022.
[4] T. H. Tran, “Landing-Gear Impact Response : A Non-linear Finite Element Approach,” 2019, [Online].
Available: https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1949&context=etd
[5] N. S. Currey, “Aircraft Landing Gear Design: Principles and Practices,” Aircr. Land. Gear Des. Princ. Pract.,
1988, doi: 10.2514/4.861468.
[6] D. P. Raymer, Aircraft design: A conceptual approach[Book]. 1992.

[7] M. H. Sadraey, AIRCRAFT DESIGN Aerospace Series List Design and Analysis of Composite Structures: With applications to aerospace
Structures. 2013. [Online]. Available: https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-21/11808685_1139788599369111_991256954_n.pdf/
MohammadH.Sadraey-AircraftDesignASystemsEngineeringApproach-JohnWileyamp_Sons2012-1.pdf?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-
7&_nc_sid=0cab14&_nc_ohc=_KB8dsm8SowAX-ZC837&_nc_ht=cdn.fbsbx.com&oh=03
[8] T. D. Nguyen, “Finite Element Analysis of a Nose Gear During Landing,” Thesis, 2010.
[9] S. G. Aftab, Sirajuddin, B. Sreedhara, E. Ganesh, N. R. Babu, and S. K. Aithal, “Finite element analysis of a passenger aircraft landing
gear for structural and fatigue safety,” Mater. Today Proc., vol. 54, no. xxxx, pp. 152–158, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.matpr.2021.08.199.
[10] O. Essienubong, Ikpe Aniekan Ikechukwu and S. Paul, “Finite element analysis of aircraft tire behaviour under overloaded aircraft
landing phase,” Aeronaut. Aerosp. Open Access J., vol. 2, no. 1, 2018, doi: 10.15406/aaoaj.2018.02.00026.
[11] J. Daniels, “A method for landing gear modeling and simulation with experimental validation,” 1996. [Online]. Available:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19960049759_1996080560.pdf?origin=publication_detail
[12] Goodyear Aviation Tire and Rubber Company, Tyre Databook. 2023. [Online]. Available:
https://www.goodyearaviation.com/resources/pdf/Data-Section-2022.pdf
[13] J. M. Jacob and E. G. Papageorgiou, “Numerical Analysis of Aircraft Nose Landing Gear using FEA,” no. April, pp. 7–15, 2019.
Thank you!!!

Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Final

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Report on stress analysis of Twin Otter Landing

Gear considering Runway Gradient Using

Presented By: Supervisor:

Date: Feb 8, 2023

Tenzing Hillary/ Lukla Airport 2846 Solukhumbu 11.7% 9 23

Jomsom Airport 2736 Mustang 1.75% 3 15

Simikot Airport 2971 Humla - 4 0

1. Conventional Landing gear arrangement 2. Tricycle Landing gear arrangement.

Wheel Hub A356 0.33

Axle AISI 4340 0.29

Outer/ inner cylinder 300M 0.28

Orifice platte 300M 0.28

Tapered Metering pin 300M 0.28

Torque arm TIMETAL 834 0.32

Source :Raymer, 1992

1. Stroke Length of Shock Absorber:

2. Length of Oleo Strut during static condition:

Length of Oleo Strut during full extension:

4. Tire Sizing and selection:

Source: Goodyear Aviation Tire and Rubber Company, 2023

Thus, Stroke Length (S) =

Length of Oleo Strut during fully extended condition = 27.83 inch

Figure: Cad design of Twin otter Nose Section-view

[3] CAAN, “CAAN Safety Report 2022,” 2022.

[6] D. P. Raymer, Aircraft design: A conceptual approach[Book]. 1992.

You might also like