Piloted Flight Simulation Using General-Purpose Multibody Dynamics

This paper describes the design of a pilot-in-the-loop rotorcraft flight simulation system in which the dynamics of the vehicle is simulated according to first-principles general-purpose multibody dynamics. It is postulated that efficient general-purpose simulation tools, like the proposed multibody solver, can be of help especially in support of the development of unconventional vehicle configurations. A flight simulation facility based on this concept, currently under development at Politecnico di Milano, is presented.