Investigation into the Interaction of Nose Landing Gear and Fuselage Dynamics

Pilots may experience vibrations in the cockpit during ground maneuvers because of energy being transferred from the nose landing gear to the fuselage. This indicates that the fuselage dynamics could also have an effect on the dynamics of the gear. To study this interaction, a mathematical model of a nose landing gear coupled to a fuselage model with yaw and pitch degrees of freedom is developed. Results obtained by bifurcation analysis show the nature of the interaction between the two systems; in particular, the two-degree-of-freedom fuselage does affect the onset and subsequent severity of nose landing gear shimmy.