Structural Safety Analysis of a Spherical Flight Simulator Designed with a GFRP-Foam Sandwich Composite

A flight training simulator of a fully spherical configuration is being developed to precisely and quickly control six degrees of freedom (Dof) motions especially with unlimited rotations. The full-scale simulator should be designed with a lightweight material to reduce inertial effects for fast and stable feedback controls while no structural failure is ensured during operations. In this study, a sandwich composite consisting of glass fiber reinforced plastics and a foam core is used to obtain high specific strengths and specific stiffnesses. T-type stainless steel frames are inserted to minimize the deformation of the sphere curvature. Finite element analysis is carried out to evaluate structural safety of the simulator composed of the sandwich sphere and steel frames. The analysis considers the weights of the equipment and trainee and it is assumed to be 200 kg. Gravity acceleration is also considered. The stresses and displacement acting on the simulator are calculated and the safety is assessed under two different situations.