A novel design and structural analysis of spring landing gear for unmanned air vehicles

Abstract

Aircraft are subjected to an impact load during landing. This situation becomes more important for unmanned aerial vehicles that are remotely controlled and must serve in extreme conditions. Because the landing gear should absorb this impact load as much as possible and prevent damage to the unmanned aerial vehicle body and its components. In this study, a landing gear design has been developed for unmanned aerial vehicles that can absorb more impact load during landing. Numerical analyzes were performed to determine the fatigue life and the maximum impact load that the developed design can withstand. In addition, a conventional landing gear was modeled and the results were compared. The properties of 7075-T6 Aluminum alloy were used as the landing gear material. As a result of the finite element analyzes made with Ansys software, it has been understood that the newly designed landing gear can absorb more energy than the conventional landing gear. It has also been determined that it can be used at values up to 3700N impact load.