Year

2010

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Department

Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Alexandra Schonning

Second Advisor

Dr. Paul Eason

Third Advisor

Dr. David Nicholson

Abstract

Nose gear failure is a high concern in the aviation industries. According to the Federal Aviation Administration reports, 55% of aircraft failures occur during takeoff and landing while 45% of failures occur during flight. The objective of this thesis is to determine the stress behavior and the displacement of a nose gear of an aircraft during landing using structural finite element analysis. The nose gear was first modeled using computer-aided design software and then imported into finite element software. The external forces were determined analytically and the interactions between components were carefully modeled using contact analysis. The tire was modeled using the eye-bar theory. The results obtained in this work are consistent with the Federal Aviation Administration’s recommendations for physical testing.

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