Simple and efficient numerical tools for the analysis of parachutes
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a set of simple yet effective, numerical method for the design and evaluation of parachute-payload system. The developments include a coupled fluid-structural solver for unsteady simulations of ram-air type parachutes. The main features of the computational tools are described and several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the performance and capabilities of the technique.
Design/methodology/approach
For an efficient solution of the aerodynamic problem, an unsteady panel method has been chosen exploiting the fact that large areas of separated flow are not expected under nominal flight conditions of ram-air parachutes. A dynamic explicit finite element solver is used for the structure. This approach yields a robust solution even when highly nonlinear effects due to large displacements and material response are present. The numerical results show considerable accuracy and robustness.
Findings
A simple and effective numerical tool for the analysis of parachutes has been developed.
Originality/value
An analysis code has been developed which addresses the needs of ram-air parachute designers. The software delivers reasonably accurate results in a short time using modest hardware. It can therefore assist the design process, which nowadays relies on empirical methods.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the support from CIMSA Ingeniería y Sistemas for providing sample parachute geometries, experimental data used during the development of the code and useful suggestions about the most important features to implement into the software.
Citation
Flores, R., Ortega, E. and Onate, E. (2014), "Simple and efficient numerical tools for the analysis of parachutes", Engineering Computations, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 957-985. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-10-2012-0247
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited