The inflation of a five-ring cone parachute with the airflow velocity of 18 m/s is studied based on the simplified arbitrary Lagrange Euler （SALE）/fluid-structure interaction （FSI） method. The numerical results of the canopy shape, stability, opening load, and drag area are obtained, and they are well consistent with the experimental data gained from wind tunnel tests. The method is then used to simulate the opening process under different velocities. It is found that the first load shock affected by the velocity often occurs at the end of the initial inflation stage. For the first time, the phenomena that the inflation distance proportion coefficient increases and the dynamic load coefficient decreases, respectively, with the increase in the velocity are revealed. The above proposed method is competent to solve the large deformation problem without empirial coefficients, and can collect more space-time details of fluid-structure-motion information when it is compared with the traditional method.
A direct numerical modeling method for parachute is proposed firstly, and a model for the star-shaped folded parachute with detailed structures is established. The simplified arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian fluid structure interaction （SALE/FSI） method is used to simulate the infla- tion process of a folded parachute, and the flow field calculation is mainly based on operator split- ting technique. By using this method, the dynamic variations of related parameters such as flow field and structure are obtained, and the load jump appearing at the end of initial inflation stage is cap- tured. Numerical results including opening load, drag characteristics, swinging angle, etc. are well consistent with wind tunnel tests. In addition, this coupled method can get more space-time detailed information such as geometry shape, structure, motion, and flow field. Compared with previous inflation time method, this method is a completely theoretical analysis approach without relying on empirical coefficients, which can provide a reference for material selection, performance optimi- zation during parachute design.
