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Wrapping gear leg with Carbon Fiber

B

brick

Member
Currently working on RV7A gear leg and pant fairings. After reading numerous posts it seems many if not all RV'S have a speed that vibration occurs. That being said it seems many have wrapped gear leg with Carbon Fiber some with two layers some with more that two and apparently with success. My question is do you use direction CF or bi-directional CF. Please note I have not flown this aircraft yet still building but if it makes sense to do this and be done with it I will. I guess that's a second question. Thanks to all who may reply.:)
 
Brick question response

Just my opinion from all I have read on VAF. I have carbon gear leg wraps that replicate the Vans profile and use a carbon plate on the back side of the leg to form a tear shaped beam.
My conclusion from all the wise input here is the whole issue centers around input frequency and sympathetic natural frequency of the gear leg. There are many ingredients to this plot. Tire shape, tire balance, tire pressure, runway surface crack spacing, speed and last but not simple, the harmonic property of the gear leg.
My personal opinion is carbon is more of a constant over time than pine woodwork and glass. Yet, there is no silver bullet ! Most of the time my gear has no vibration, yet, rarely, I sense a little ?unhappiness? at different temps, different speeds, different runways.
Good luck 😊
 
:)Thanks for the reply, appreciate the knowledge, but can you tell me if directional or bi-directional was used thanks:)
 
Bidirectional

I used bidirectional because I had some. The layers cross each other, so that would imply it is better than the bias cut fabric ( for tube and rag covering) that conforms with curves. That said, unidirectional is probably better for total stiffness. The question is what direction ? It has not been proven that the problematic input stimulus is fore and aft or vertical.
This is above my pay grade; consult Dan H.
 
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