Abstract
Computational fluid dynamics is employed to evaluate the mean aerodynamic loading on the retractable landing-gears of a regional transport commercial aircraft. The mean turbulent flow around simplified landing-gear systems including doors is simulated by using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes approach, where the governing equations are solved with a finite volume-based numerical method. Using a dynamic meshing method, the computational grid is automatically and continuously adapted to the time-changing geometry, while following the extension/retraction of the landing-gear systems. The temporal evolution of the aerodynamic forces on both the nose and the main landing-gears, along with the hinge moments of the doors, is numerically predicted. The proposed computational modeling approach is verified to have good practical potential when compared with reference experimental data provided by the Leonardo Aircraft structural loads group.
Highlights
Retractable landing-gears are highly critical subsystems of commercial aircraft
The main goal of the present work is the computational evaluation of the mean aerodynamic loads on a retractable tricycle-type landing-gear that is commonly used for regional transport commercial aircraft
The present study focuses on the computational evaluation of the aerodynamic loading on a retractable tricycle-type landing-gear of a small commercial aircraft
Summary
Retractable landing-gears are highly critical subsystems of commercial aircraft. They must be accurately designed to have minimum weight and volume, together with high performance and a long life, while meeting all the prescribed regulatory and safety requirements. CFD has been strongly emerging as an effective tool for industrial aerodynamics research [1,2], where CFD simulations are being used to understand the flow physics around rudimentary landing-gears, e.g., [3,4]. The numerical simulation of the turbulent flow around retractable landing-gears, due to the presence of a number of moving bluff bodies with different sizes and shapes, is very challenging [5,6]
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