Notes on a Theoretical Parachute Opening Force Analysis Applied to a General Trajectory

Abstract

The report presents a method for calculating the inflation reference time and opening shock forces of the solid-cloth family of parachutes when deployed at an arbitrary trajectory angle to the horizontal. The method is extended to other types of parachutes, but it is limited in that the inflation reference times are not calculated as part of the deployment process. Particular inflation times must be provided as input data to the furnished computer program. The variation of opening shock force versus inflation reference time may be surveyed by providing several values or using actual field test data. Examples are used to demonstrate the effects of canopy cloth rate of airflow, altitude, and trajectory deployment angle for constant velocity and constant dynamic pressure altitude profiles. Keywords: Variable deployment angle, Inflation time, Parachute technology, Opening shock, Calculation methods, Altitude effects.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 28, 1988
Accession Number
ADA201050

Entities

People

  • William P. Ludtke

Organizations

  • Naval Surface Warfare Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Classification
  • Computer Programs
  • Elastic Properties
  • Field Tests
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Geometry
  • Mass Flow
  • Military Research
  • Nomenclature
  • Parachutes
  • Shape
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Trajectories
  • Two Dimensional
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerial Delivery - Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Geodesy