The self-sustained oscillation of aircraft landing gear is an inherently nonlinear and dynamically complex phenomenon. Although such oscillations are ultimately driven from the interaction between the tires and the ground, other effects, such as mechanical freeplay, and geometric nonlinearity, may influence stability and add to the complexity of observed behavior. This paper presents a bifurcation study of an aircraft main landing gear (MLG), which includes both mechanical freeplay and significant geometric coupling, the latter achieved via consideration of a typical side-stay orientation. These aspects combine to produce complex oscillatory behavior within the operating regime of the landing gear, including longitudinal and quasi-periodic shimmy. Moreover, asymmetric forces arising from the geometric orientation produce bifurcation results that are extremely sensitive to the properties at the freeplay/contact boundary. However, this sensitivity is confined to the small amplitude dynamics of the system. This affects the interpretation of the bifurcation results; in particular bifurcations from high amplitude behavior are found to form boundaries of greater confidence between the regions of different behavior given uncertainty in the freeplay characteristics.
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September 2015
Research-Article
Shimmy of an Aircraft Main Landing Gear With Geometric Coupling and Mechanical Freeplay
C. Howcroft,
C. Howcroft
Department of Engineering Mathematics,
e-mail: c.howcroft@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: c.howcroft@bristol.ac.uk
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M. Lowenberg,
M. Lowenberg
Department of Aerospace Engineering,
e-mail: m.lowenberg@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: m.lowenberg@bristol.ac.uk
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S. Neild,
S. Neild
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: simon.neild@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: simon.neild@bristol.ac.uk
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B. Krauskopf,
B. Krauskopf
Department of Mathematics,
Private Bag 92019,
e-mail: b.krauskopf@auckland.ac.nz
University of Auckland
,Private Bag 92019,
Auckland 1142
, New Zealand
e-mail: b.krauskopf@auckland.ac.nz
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E. Coetzee
E. Coetzee
Search for other works by this author on:
C. Howcroft
Department of Engineering Mathematics,
e-mail: c.howcroft@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: c.howcroft@bristol.ac.uk
M. Lowenberg
Department of Aerospace Engineering,
e-mail: m.lowenberg@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: m.lowenberg@bristol.ac.uk
S. Neild
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: simon.neild@bristol.ac.uk
University of Bristol
,Bristol BS8 1TR
, UK
e-mail: simon.neild@bristol.ac.uk
B. Krauskopf
Department of Mathematics,
Private Bag 92019,
e-mail: b.krauskopf@auckland.ac.nz
University of Auckland
,Private Bag 92019,
Auckland 1142
, New Zealand
e-mail: b.krauskopf@auckland.ac.nz
E. Coetzee
Contributed by the Design Engineering Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS. Manuscript received March 9, 2014; final manuscript received October 16, 2014; published online April 6, 2015. Assoc. Editor: Gabor Stepan.
J. Comput. Nonlinear Dynam. Sep 2015, 10(5): 051011 (14 pages)
Published Online: September 1, 2015
Article history
Received:
March 9, 2014
Revision Received:
October 16, 2014
Online:
April 6, 2015
Citation
Howcroft, C., Lowenberg, M., Neild, S., Krauskopf, B., and Coetzee, E. (September 1, 2015). "Shimmy of an Aircraft Main Landing Gear With Geometric Coupling and Mechanical Freeplay." ASME. J. Comput. Nonlinear Dynam. September 2015; 10(5): 051011. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4028852
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