This project was the design of the spring steel landing gear for the tandem tractor gyroplane that I was concurrently developing at the time. The main landing gear were modified Cessna 140 landing gear legs.
I used an iterative Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method to tailor the leg spring stiffness to produce the desired deflection at max landing weight and expected landing descent rates. I milled the width of the Cessna 140 gear legs down to the specific analyzed dimensions. Also, I canted the legs out for a wider stance while still producing the same root bending moment of the heavier C140. This wider stance required special axle mounting blocks to set the proper axle angle. I analytically designed the axle block angle to produce level axles with the aircraft sitting static at a nominal weight. The gear was sized per configuration applicable FAR23 load cases. The rolling stock was FAA/TSO Parker Hannifin 500-5.00 with single puck differential hydraulic brakes.
Michael Fuchs Personal Projects 