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The aerodynamic behaviour of fully inflated parachutes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

R. M. Ayres
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Extract

In 1971 The Royal Aeronautical Society's Handley Page Air Safety Award funded a preliminary study of the complex aerodynamic phenomena associated with fully deployed parachutes and results were sufficiently encouraging for the Ministry of Defence to sponsor a full research programme in the hope that a more rational approach to canopy design might evolve.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the essentially quasi-static two dimensional concepts of conventional aerodynamics as applied to aircraft were of limited value since a parachute is very much a three dimensional device which has a tendency to undergo large oscillations at relatively low descent airspeeds. The project therefore involved rethinking of basic aerodynamic principles and a return to hydrodynamic theory as applied to airships since they also have pronounced three dimensional anatomical characteristics and experience significant changes in relative air flow in their natural mode of operation. The objective of this paper is therefore to show how this same theoretical approach can be used as a basis for developing computer techniques capable of effectively simulating full scale parachute descent behaviour from basic wind tunnel test data.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 82 , Issue 805 , January 1978 , pp. 38 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1978 

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