Experimental Stress/Strain Analysis of a Standardized Sensor Platform for a C-130 Aircraft

Project Oculus is an in-flight deployable mechanical arm/pod system that will accommodate 500 pounds of sensor payload, developed for a C-130 military aircraft. The system is designed for use in counter narco-terrorism and surveillance applications by the Department of Defense and the National Guard [1]. A prototype of the system has been built and is in the testing/analysis phase. The purpose of this study was to analyze the actual stresses and strains in the critical areas found using previous Finite Element (FE) simulations and to ensure that acceptable safety requirements have been met. The system components tested will be redesigned, tested, and reconstructed in the case of unacceptable safety factors or if more reliable methods can be implemented.

The system was built to be deployed and retracted in flight, to avoid causing any problems in take off and landing. The most concerning areas of failure will be those that would not allow the system to retract to the stowing position, and those which would cause the sensor load to become detached from the pallet. The testing will focus on the stresses and strains on the main load support arms.