Optimization of the Main Landing Gear Structure of LSU-02NGLD

Abstract

The mass of the landing gear structure becomes an important aspect of the total mass of the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Therefore, many efforts have been made to reduce the mass of the landing gear by performing structural optimization. Reducing the mass of the landing gear structure can be used as a substitute to increase the payload on the UAV. The landing gear structure in this paper is the main landing gear of LSU-02NGLD (LAPAN Surveillance UAV series 02 New Generation Low Drag). LSU-02NGLD is a UAV that has 2.9 m of wingspan with a total mass of 21 kg. This paper aims to optimize the main landing gear structure so that optimization can reduce the mass. The optimization was carried out using the finite element software by modeling the main landing gear structure as a 1D beam element. There were 9 beam elements in the main landing gear structure model. The cross-sectional width (w) and the cross-sectional height (h) for each element were used as design variables. The objective of the optimization was to minimize the mass while maintaining maximum bending stress not greater than 20 MPa, displacement in y-direction not greater than 1 mm, and displacement in z-direction not greater than 0.1 mm. The optimization result showed that the mass reduction of the main landing gear structure was 50%, with all constraints fulfilled.