Fuzzy control of a landing gear system with oleo-pneumatic shock absorber to reduce aircraft vibrations by landing impacts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to control a landing gear system with an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber with the fuzzy controller. Design/methodology/approach The landing gear system with an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber is modeled mathematically. A fuzzy controller is designed for reducing aircraft vibrations. Stroke velocity and main mass velocity parameters were used to decide variable gas pressure with the fuzzy controller. Findings The fuzzy controller, designed according to stroke velocity and main mass velocity, reduces aircraft vibrations by the landing impacts. The controller can provide strong robustness because it shows similar good performance for different descent speeds. Research limitations/implications This study was carried out through simulations in a computer environment and has not been experimentally tested in a real environment. In addition, signal and measurement delays are not taken into account. In future models, the effects of these signal delays can be added, and the controller can be tested on a real model. Originality/value In this study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, the gas pressure for the landing gear system using an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber was controlled by a fuzzy controller that adjusts the stroke velocity and the main mass velocity. Although the oleo-pneumatic shock absorber model contains high nonlinearities, the designed fuzzy controller gave successful results as robust.