Modeling and Experimental Efforts Towards Robust Low-Cost Cruciform Canopy Control

Abstract

Over the years, precision guided cargo airdrop has taken many forms with most attempting to optimize payload delivery accuracy over all other variables. More recent developments have placed system cost and the ability to perform accurately in highly vertical drop environments as higher priorities, necessitating a departure from more traditional parafoil based vehicles. This work describes the numerical and experimental examination of a cruciform based cargo payload system in the context of modern operational considerations. The design process is holistic, making extensive use of a two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model to characterize steady flight and coupling this with collection and analysis of tradition live drop test data to understand deployment dynamics and responses to environmental conditions. This has resulted in a system that has the potential to leverage existing concepts of operation and flight planning tools while extending operational and logistics support in real-world mission scenarios.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 15, 2019
Accession Number
AD1100299

Entities

People

  • Gregory M. Noetscher
  • Keith Bergeron
  • Terrance Rose

Organizations

  • United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Delivery
  • Air Drop Operations
  • Altitude
  • Control Systems
  • Deployment
  • Drop Tests
  • Flow
  • Fluid Flow
  • High Altitude
  • High Performance Computing
  • Logistics Support
  • Measurement
  • Parachutes
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Sea Level
  • Simulations
  • Wind Tunnels

Readers

  • Aerodynamics/Aeronautics.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Systems Analysis and Design