Undercarriage models are under study as part of the Cambridge-MIT Institute’s Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI) to aid landing- gear fairing designs that could reduce airframe noise levels by 15-20db.
Landing gears, with their wheels, struts, associated cabling and braking systems, represent a significant generator of high-frequency noise while the aircraft is flying close to the ground.
The research will create a baseline model to identify the origins of noise from the gear system. Air flows and their interaction around the gears and further down the fuselage will form part of that work.
Future studies will include windtunnel testing and the development of different types of fairings, with the aid of the baseline model.
“We’ve seen reductions of 6db in the literature [but] we are trying to push the limits of landing-gear design with a view to noise,” says SAI airframe team researcher Alex Quayle.
Source: Flight International
