AIRCRAFT LANDING GEAR DYNAMICS - SIMULATION AND CONTROL

The landing gear is an inevitable system for the aircraft. It absorbs the energy of the landing impact and carries the aircraft weight at al l ground operations, including take off, taxiing, and towing, Numerica l simulation has become an invaluable tool for the assessment of landi ng gear dynamics as well as of aircraft/landing gear interaction. This paper gives an overview of the landing gear requirements and illustra tes landing gear operational conditions, i.e., the shimmy problem, the dynamics at touch down and at ground roll. Furthermore, three softwar e packages used in the simulation of aircraft ground dynamics are pres ented. A look at flight simulators and landing gear test facilities fo llows. Finally, the possible application of controlled landing gears i s discussed.