Reliability analysis of wear failure in aircraft hatch retractable mechanism under vibration environment

The aircraft hatch retractable mechanism operates within a highly complex vibration environment over extended durations. Due to inherent limitations in mechanical processing precision, initial clearances are inevitably present in the hinges, rendering wear issues particularly pronounced. To address this, the present study conducts a reliability analysis of wear failure in the aircraft hatch retractable mechanism under vibrational conditions, employing the Archard wear model alongside a multibody dynamic’s simulation framework. Initially, a wear prediction model for the joint is developed based on the Archard model, and an equivalent wear cycle is defined to reduce the computational time required for joint wear simulation. Subsequently, a multibody dynamics model of the clearance joint is constructed using LMS Virtual.Lab, wherein vibration excitation is applied to examine the effect of vibration on clearance joint wear. Wear depth updates are implemented through co-simulation with MATLAB. Finally, reliability analysis of the mechanism is performed utilizing the adaptive Kriging model combined with the Monte Carlo Simulation (AK-MCS) method. The results demonstrate that vibration markedly exacerbates wear in the clearance joint, with vibration amplitude exerting a particularly significant influence on the acceleration of wear.