DESIGN AND CRASHWORTHINESS ANALYSIS OF A LANDING GEAR STRUT FOR A UAV

Abstract

Unmanned Armed Vehicles (UAVs) are used in surveillance, offensive, and other tactical operations by the military of several countries of the world including Pakistan. The landing gear system of these UAVs has to be robust enough to bear severe loading conditions not only during normal operational conditions but also in case of any unexpected crash-landing. Of all the different components that make a landing gear system (including braking system, steering system, suspension), the most crucial is the strut as it directly handles the load of the UAV and bears the impact upon landing. The load bearing ability of a landing gear strut can be increased by improving its design (length/overall shape/cross-sectional shape) and the material (metal/composites) it is made of. Figuring out these design parameters is an iterative process that goes back and forth between making some design changes (adding or removing material/changing shape) and analyzing the effect of said changes on the loadbearing ability of the strut using analysis tools such as ANSYS and SimuLink. This iterative process is initialized by choosing a suitable landing gear system of a UAV (Predator MQ1 in our case). Along with this, a suitable tire is also selected based on the loading conditions. All the design parameters are tweaked keeping in mind the integration of the designed parts with other assemblies.