Lift Force Measurement in Landing Gears Dynamic Tests

As one of the key components of the aircraft in terms of both operation and safety landing gears are of special interest of the aviation regulations. During the touch down landing gears need to dissipate as much of the energy as possible maintaining the lowest volume and weight as required by the aviation design restrictions. According to the aviation regulations landing gears have to be tested in order to prove the dissipation of the calculated landing energy and to evaluate actual loads acting on the fuselage via the mounting nodes of the landing gears. The tests need to replicate the real landing conditions as closely as possible – including the lift force (or lift) acting on the aircraft during landing. The lift force during landing is not sufficient to maintain the aircraft in flight but acts as the relief force to the aircraft weight resulting in lowering loads applied to the fuselage and decreasing landing energy needed to be dissipated. The lift force or lift has to be taken into account during laboratory tests of landing gears. The lift force needs to be simulated in all of the landing gears dynamic tests: performance optimization, proof of the operation for the certification, and the fatigue evaluation. There are two main methods of applying the lift during the tests: equivalent/effective mass or direct lift application. The latter is used at the Landing Gear Laboratory of the Lukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation (where author works on daily basis). The lift is applied by the pneumatic cylinders built in the test stand. Until recently the control of the lift force value was performed indirectly by the measurement of the pressure inside the pneumatic system. Recently the experimental direct measurement system using force transducers was introduced in order to directly measure the lift force during every test. In the presented paper, the author gives an overview of the lift force measurement system including its design and the results of the preliminary use evaluation.