Wheel assembly heat shield

An aircraft wheel assembly comprising:

• a wheel including a hub and a tube well positioned concentrically around said hub;
• a plurality of beam keys circumferentially spaced within said tube well and secured at opposing ends to said tube well;
• a retaining ring secured within said tube well and positioned concentrically around said hub and adjacent to an outboard end of said beam keys;
• and
• a plurality of radiused heat shield segments positioned between said beam keys, each of said heat shield segments including at least one tab extending from an outboard end and engaged with said retaining ring to secure said heat shield segment against movement.

A heat shield assembly comprising:

• a retaining ring removably positioned within a wheel;
• a plurality of heat shield segments secured within the wheel, each of said heat shield segments including at least one skin layer and at least one tab extending therefrom and engaged with said retaining ring to secure an outboard end of said at least one skin layer against movement;
• and
• wherein said plurality of heat shield segments have a radius and are positioned adjacent to one another to form a tube-like shield within a wheel and said retaining ring has a radius that is less than a radius of the tube-like shield formed by said plurality of heat shield segments.