The Effect of Landing Gear Dimension Variation on the Static Strength and Dynamic Response of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Abstract

This research discusses the static and dynamic analysis of the landing gear structure of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The dimensional study is conducted to investigate the effect of landing gear dimension variation on UAVs’ static strength and dynamic response. Static analysis was performed with Finite Element Method (FEM) software. The dynamic response of the UAV is analyzed using a single-degree-of-freedom vibration model. Based on the static analysis results, the landing gear stiffness and strength can be increased by increasing the width and decreasing the height, radius, and length of the landing gear structure. The energy dissipation in the dynamic analysis is described by hysteresis and viscous damping model. The dynamic response simulation results show that the increase in the stiffness of the landing gear leads to an increase in force transmission and acceleration of the UAV. Furthermore, the UAV response using the viscous damping model can accurately predict the system’s response with the hysteretic damping model for small damping conditions. However, the deviation was observed for large damping conditions.