Development of a light aircraft model for the NTU flight simulator

• Main Author: Lee, Kok Vui.
• Other Authors: Go Tiauw Hiong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/17103
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The NTU Flight Simulator currently only allows users to fly the C130 transport aircraft and it is the main aim of this final year project to develop a light aircraft model to be flown in the simulator. It must be noted that the focus of the project is to replicate the flight dynamics characteristics and performances of the light aircraft model and not the visual graphics or sound effects. The chosen light aircraft model was the Cessna 172 R-Variant SkyHawk. The specifications of the aircraft were obtained through online research while performances data were extracted from programs like the Advanced Aircraft Analysis and FlightGear. This report documents the literature review conducted by the author and the subsequent improvements and changes implemented to the simulator code. Major changes were done to the Matlab-based GenSpec file while the C130 Simulink code was modified slightly as well. In order to validate the accuracy of the modifications, simulation flights were conducted and relevant data was extracted for comparison with theoretical values. Parameters regarding the take-off, cruise and descent performances were obtained for validation purposes. The results show that the modeling of the take-off and cruise performances were quite accurate while slight changes to the code have to be made to improve the simulated descent performance. The software codes are not attached to the report due to its length but submitted separately in a compact disc.