Keywords
Citation
(1998), "Crashworthy landing gear for an aircraft", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 70 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1998.12770ead.004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited
Crashworthy landing gear for an aircraft
Crashworthy landing gear for an aircraft
Keywords Aircraft, Landing gear, Patents, United Technologies
In world patent 96/15940 United Technologies Corporation describes a shock strut assembly for an aircraft landing gear. It includes a trunnion fitting, a compressible oleo strut subassembly, a wheel subassembly, an energy dissipating subassembly, and a mechanical fuse subassembly. The oleo strut subassembly includes a cylinder, having an upper end mounted in combination with the trunnion fitting by means of the mechanical fuse subassembly. The energy dissipating subassembly includes a cylindrical cutter secured in combination with the cylinder and the trunnion fitting and a frangible tube member mounted in concentric combination with the cylinder member. The mechanical fuse subassembly includes a shear ring. During normal landings, the shear ring prevents movement of the cylinder with respect to the trunnion fitting. In a crash landing, the shear flanges shear at a predetermined axial load failure limit which allows the cylinder to be displaced relative to the trunnion fitting. Displacement of the cylinder causes the frangible tube to interact with the cutter, causing fracturing of the frangible tube for crash landing energy dissipation.