Design and Analysis of CFRP‐Based Landing Gear for Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

With recent technological advancements, the drone industry has been looking into new materials to manufacture parts. The ultimate aim of designing any aircraft component is to minimize its weight and maximize its strength while keeping the costs low to compete with the market. One of the biggest challenges for any drone is to have a safe landing, especially when it has sensitive equipment or goods onboard. Landing gears are supposed to be highly crashworthy and are not expected to fail in their given lifecycle; however, due to the nature of their use, they are always at risk of damage. This study is aimed at finding a way to mitigate this risk by conducting research based on a relatively new material technology called carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP). A new design for the landing gears is also provided using CFRP as material. CFRPs are highly durable, stronger, and lighter then steel. Equivalent von Mises stresses and strains, and maximum principle stresses were obtained and studied using finite element analysis for multiple models of the landing gear of a selected UAV. The finite element package ANSYS was used for this purpose. Impact analysis was performed using LS Dyna in ANSYS. The new proposed design is validated through various simulations and analysis performed in Ansys Workbench. The results were used to draw a comparison of the factor of safeties of the preferred model and a conclusion was drawn for the usage of CFRP in the manufacturing of landing gears.