Rotorcraft Slope Landings with Articulated Landing Gear

Abstract

Rotorcraft are uniquely suited to operate in remote areas, primarily due to their ability to perform vertical takeoffs and landings. However, the slope of the landing surface can severely limit viable landing areas. Adding robotic articulated landing gear to a rotorcraft increases the number of degrees of freedom that can be used to land on an irregular surface. Instead of relying on the rotor thrust magnitude and direction to land safely, the gear can also be used to conform more closely with the ground, potentially allowing for quicker and safer landings. The current work presents a multi-body simulation tool to simulate the dynamics of a rotorcraft with robotic gear landing on sloped terrain, including overall system motion, loads computation, and stress analysis. Through dynamic simulation and analysis it is shown that a robotic legged landing gear system can substantially expand the slope and type of terrain for landing with a small increase in landing gear system weight.