Advances in Landing Systems Engineering

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Aeronautics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 2156

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK
Interests: turbulence; boundary layer flows; flow control; atmospheric flow; direct numerical simulation (DNS); computational fluid dynamics (CFD); turbulence modelling; fluid dynamics applied on biophysics; multiphase flow; aerodynamics; flapping wing insect flight; aerospace landing systems
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E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK
Interests: aeronautical systems; aerospace manufacturing; aircraft design; autonomous systems; computing, simulation and modelling; systems engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The take-off and landing of an aircraft are critical and complex processes involving several systems such as landing gear, airport infrastructure and air traffic management. The words “landing systems” hence refer not only to the engineering concepts found in the physical landing gear but the whole framework of complex systems surrounding this part of the aircraft and its operation.

The maturity of aircraft design has led to lighter aircraft fuselage and thinner wings, as well as quieter engines. The development of Landing Gear is, however, lagging due to that technological improvements of other aircraft parts cannot be directly transferred to the undercarriage (e.g., the use of composites). However, recent advances in technologies such as numerical and experimental methods, AI, optimization, control and modelling, together with new manufacturing techniques open up the design space for landing gear components. In addition, new propulsion systems, motivated by the decarbonization of air travel, provide an opportunity for development of novel airframes and landing systems.

Landing Systems Engineering is a multidisciplinary topic involving a wide range of disciplines, spanning from Molecular Dynamics to Systems Integration, hence a broad spectrum of engineering disciplines overlaps, and requires intense collaboration between scientists and engineers in different fields. The goal of this Special Issue is to collect advances in the field encompassing all aspects of the complex landing system. One enabler of the Landing Systems development is the establishment of new design criteria by transforming the empirical-based landing gear into a digital-model based product, hence enabling a systems-of-systems approach, and to provide opportunities for optimization and adoption of new materials and technologies.

Prof. Dr. Martin Skote
Dr. Craig Lawson
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • landing gear systems
  • mechanical engineering
  • novel materials
  • optimization
  • multiphysics
  • interdisciplinary
  • noise
  • systems engineering
  • prognostics and health management

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2483 KiB  
Article
Study on the Test and Adjustment Method of Civil Aircraft Taxiing Deviation
by Wenjie Chen, Yong Chen, Yongxiang Xu and Yimin Jiang
Aerospace 2024, 11(9), 732; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11090732 - 6 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 708
Abstract
Civil aircrafts are highly complex systems. During the manufacturing process, deviations can occur due to cumulative errors in installation, system control, and other factors. These deviations often lead to the phenomenon of aircraft “runaway” during ground taxiing, taking off, and landing. Corrective maneuvers [...] Read more.
Civil aircrafts are highly complex systems. During the manufacturing process, deviations can occur due to cumulative errors in installation, system control, and other factors. These deviations often lead to the phenomenon of aircraft “runaway” during ground taxiing, taking off, and landing. Corrective maneuvers to address this issue not only increase the pilot’s workload but also heighten the risk of aircraft deviation from the runway. Therefore, accurately testing and aligning the side deviation angle of an aircraft is crucial for ensuring safe operations. In this paper, we first construct a mathematical model of aircraft dynamics and derive a simplified mathematical model specifically designed for aircraft trimming tests. Next, a ground taxiing trimming test is conducted to verify the accuracy of this simplified model. Additionally, we investigate the crosswind factor, which has the greatest impact on side deviation measurements, to establish the relationship between the crosswind factor and the nose wheel trimming angle. Based on this, we innovatively propose a method for achieving aircraft trimming through the equivalent trimming angle of the nose wheel. Ultimately, this approach allows aircraft trimming to be achieved with a single taxiing side deviation test, which will reduce the cost of flight tests and normal operation of the airplane when finding taxiing deviation. The method innovatively proposed in this paper offers an efficient and accurate solution for aircraft trimming tests and adjustments, significantly reducing the cost of such tests and improving the safety of civil aircraft. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Landing Systems Engineering)
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Review

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25 pages, 6918 KiB  
Review
A Review of Material-Related Mechanical Failures and Load Monitoring-Based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Technologies in Aircraft Landing Gear
by Kailun Deng, Agusmian Partogi Ompusunggu, Yigeng Xu, Martin Skote and Yifan Zhao
Aerospace 2025, 12(3), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12030266 - 20 Mar 2025
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Abstract
The aircraft landing gear system is vital in ensuring the aircraft’s functional completeness and operational safety. The mechanical structures of the landing gear must withstand significant operational forces, including repeated high-intensity impact loads, throughout their service life. At the same time, they must [...] Read more.
The aircraft landing gear system is vital in ensuring the aircraft’s functional completeness and operational safety. The mechanical structures of the landing gear must withstand significant operational forces, including repeated high-intensity impact loads, throughout their service life. At the same time, they must resist environmental degradation, such as corrosion, temperature fluctuations, and humidity, to ensure structural integrity and long-term reliability. Under this premise, investigating material-related mechanical failures in the landing gear is of great significance for preventing landing gear failures and ensuring aviation safety. Compared to failure investigations, structural health monitoring (SHM) plays a more active role in failure prevention for aircraft landing gears. SHM technologies identify the precursors of potential failures and continuously monitor the operational or health conditions of landing gear structures, which facilitates condition-based maintenance. This paper reviews various landing gear material-related failure investigations. The review suggests a significant portion of these failures can be attributed to material fatigue, which is either induced by abnormal high-stress concentration or corrosion. This paper also reviews a series of load monitoring-based landing gear SHM studies. It is revealed that weight and balance measurement, hard landing detection, and structure load monitoring are the most typical monitoring activities in landing gears. An analytical discussion is also presented on the correlation between reviewed landing gear failures and SHM activities, a comparison of sensors, and the potential shift in load-based landing gear SHM in response to the transition of landing gear design philosophy from safe life to damage tolerance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Landing Systems Engineering)
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