Kinematic characteristics analysis of vehicle-aircraft towing taxi system considering wheel deformation

To explore the influence of the restraint relationship between the wheel-holding mechanism and the nose landing gear wheel on the kinematic characteristics of the towing system, this paper established the relationship between the radial force and radial contact deformation of the aircraft nose landing gear wheel based on the Winkler contact model. With the Douglas TBL-180 towbarless aircraft tractor and B737-800 passenger aircraft as reference objects, the kinematic model of the tractor-aircraft system was established, and under the different constraint relationships between the wheel-holding mechanism and the nose landing gear wheel, the change law of the acceleration bias of the tractor and the aircraft under various operating conditions was explored. The results show that the radial force of the nose landing gear wheel has a strong nonlinear relationship with the radial contact deformation, which greatly influences the motion characteristics of the towing system. Under the acceleration and braking states, the increase in the constraint force at both ends of the nose landing gear wheel will reduce the acceleration bias of the tractor and the aircraft. However, under the acceleration state, the increase in the constraint force is the main influencing factor for the decrease in the acceleration bias, and under the braking state, the constraint force has little effect on the acceleration bias when increasing to a certain value (about 10 000 N).