ELECTRORHEOLOGY FOR SMART LANDING GEAR
Electrorheological (ER) technology was explored for its suitability to the continuous control of force and motion in aircraft landing gear. Although the state of knowledge on all types of active suspensions was examined, the analytical and experimental portions of the study focused upon the control of damping, alone. A specific class of ER damper designs was selected by means of a generalized analysis that modeled the ER fluid as a "bingham" plastic material. This analysis reveals the advantage of ER damping devices that minimize shear rates such that static shear stresses tend to dominate the damper's response. A prototype damping device in this class was constructed and simplified response parameters of the device were measured. Alternative formulations of the ER fluid are discussed and the employed test fluid is described. An analysis of the landing transient for an example military aircraft was performed so that the nominal performance of an ER-based damping controller could be estimated. The study observes that although ER technology offers promise over the long term, current limitations in fluid performance severely constrain the application to aircraft landing gear.
-
Corporate Authors:
University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
2901 Baxter Road
Ann Arbor, MI United States 48109-2150NASA Langley Research Center
Grants Office, Mail Stop 126
Hampton, VA United States 23665-5225 -
Authors:
- Ervin, R D
- Lou, Z
- Filisko, F E
- Winkler, C B
- Publication Date: 1996-4
Language
- English
Media Info
- Pagination: 62 p.
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Aircraft; Dampers; Landing gear; Rheological properties; Rheology; Suspension systems; Technological innovations
- Old TRIS Terms: Electrorheology
- Subject Areas: Aviation; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00739837
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: UMTRI-96. Final Report
- Contract Numbers: NAG-1-1410
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 7 1997 12:00AM