Parachute Systems Technology: Fundamentals, Concepts, and Applications, June 22 - 26, 1987

Abstract

Advances in high-performance parachute systems and the technologies needed to design them are presented in this paper. New parachute design and performance prediction codes are being developed to assist the designer in meeting parachute system performance requirements after a minimum number of flight tests. The status of advanced design codes under development at Sandia National Laboratories is summarized. An integral part of parachute performance prediction is the rational use of existing test data. The development of a data base for parachute design has been initiated to illustrate the effects of inflated diameter, geometric porosity, reefing line length, suspension line length, number of gores, and number of ribbons on parachute drag. Examples of advancements in parachute materials are presented, and recent problems with Mil- Spec broadgoods are reviewed. Finally, recent parachute systems tested at Sandia are summarized to illustrate new uses of old parachutes, new parachute configurations, and underwater recovery of payloads.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 26, 1987
Accession Number
ADA278082

Entities

People

  • Carl W. Peterson
  • Donald W. Johnson

Organizations

  • Sandia National Laboratories

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Databases
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Flight
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Load Cells
  • Materials
  • Parachutes
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Ribbon Parachutes
  • Shape
  • Space Sciences
  • Terminals
  • Test Facilities
  • Test Vehicles
  • Wind Tunnels

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Software Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design