Optimized gauging for tire–rim loading identification

Abstract

The determination of the tire–rim interface loadings is a difficult but key task for the aircraft wheel designer to predict the wheel service life. In conjunction with an optimal parameterization of these loadings previously defined by the authors, the optimal sensor placement problem is considered to identify the loading parameters at best. An optimization procedure of the wheel instrumentation, which consists of several strain gauges, is thus proposed to minimize the uncertainties of the sought parameters during the identification process. Two criteria are reviewed, namely, the determinant and the lowest eigenvalue of the Fisher information matrix, and different optimization procedures are assessed. The effectiveness of the method is proven considering the identification of an inflation case. The optimized instrumentations lead to drastically reduced uncertainties of the loading parameters and thus ensure reliable inverse identifications.