CREATION OF AN MSC/DYTRAN LANDING GEAR MODEL WITH RIGID-BODY JOINT MODELING

Predicting accurate loads associated with crash events is a key element of crashworthy airframe design. The loads generated at the landing gear/airframe interface are especially important, not only during the time between when the landing gear contact the ground and when the fuselage makes contact, but after the fuselage makes contact and is undergoing deformation as well. A method for accurate modeling of landing gear in nonlinear finite element codes is presented. The method captures the interaction of landing gear and fuselage deformation during simulated rotorcraft crash events. The joint modeling techniques used for creating landing gear models in a high-deformation finite element code, MSC/DYTRAN, are described. Particular attention is given to the method of using contact between coincident geometric entities to model corresponding joints. Subcomponent joint properties are addressed individually, using a landing gear model to demonstrate the application of the joints. A model of a single-stage drag-beam style landing gear that is geometrically similar to the Black Hawk is used to demonstrate successful correlation with a mechanically similar MSC/ADAMS model.