Team for Advanced Flow Simulation and Modeling

For more information:
  tezduyar@gmail.com

Descent and Glide of a Complex Parachute Design

Here we focus on computer modeling of the descent and glide of a complex parachute design resembling the ATPS (XT-11) parachute. The fluid-structure interaction (FSI) of the parachute decent is simulated for payload levels of 222 and 350 lbs. We also model the aerodynamic and FSI response of the parachute when one of the risers is pulled to induce glide.

The simulations are carried out in a parallel computing environment with the parallel FSI solver written by the T*AFSM. The underlying methods of the FSI solver were introduced by the T*AFSM over the years. These methods include: the Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Stabilized Space-Time (DSD/SST) formulation [1-4], an automatic mesh update technique [5], and the quasi-direct fluid-structure coupling method [6-7]. For more on this computation, see [8].

Fig. 1. Payload and canopy descent speeds for payload levels of 222 lbs (left) and 350 lbs (right).

Fig. 2. Flow patterns before and after the riser pull. In each frame, the left, right and bottom planes show respectively the velocity vectors colored with their magnitudes, vorticity and pressure.

References

1. T.E. Tezduyar, "Stabilized Finite Element Formulations for Incompressible Flow Computations", Advances in Applied Mechanics, 28 (1992) 1-44.

2. T.E. Tezduyar, M. Behr and J. Liou, "A New Strategy for Finite Element Computations Involving Moving Boundaries and Interfaces -- The Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Space-Time Procedure: I. The Concept and the Preliminary Numerical Tests", Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 94 (1992) 339-351.

3. T.E. Tezduyar, M. Behr, S. Mittal and J. Liou, "A New Strategy for Finite Element Computations Involving Moving Boundaries and Interfaces -- The Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Space-Time Procedure: II. Computation of Free-surface Flows, Two-liquid Flows, and Flows with Drifting Cylinders", Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 94 (1992) 353-371.

4. T.E. Tezduyar, "Computation of Moving Boundaries and Interfaces and Stabilization Parameters", International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 43 (2003) 555-575.

5. T.E. Tezduyar, M. Behr, S. Mittal and A.A. Johnson, "Computation of Unsteady Incompressible Flows with the Stabilized Finite Element Methods--Space-Time Formulations, Iterative Strategies and Massively Parallel Implementations", New Methods in Transient Analysis, PVP-Vol. 246/ AMD-Vol. 143, ASME, New York (1992) 7-24.

6. T.E. Tezduyar, S. Sathe, R. Keedy and K. Stein, "Space-Time Techniques for Finite Element Computation of Flows with Moving Boundaries and Interfaces", Proceedings of the III International Congress on Numerical Methods in Engineering and Applied Sciences, Monterrey, Mexico, CD-ROM (2004).

7. T.E. Tezduyar, S. Sathe, R. Keedy and K. Stein, "Space-Time Finite Element Techniques for Computation of Fluid-Structure Interactions", Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 195 (2006) 2002-2027.

8. S. Sathe, R. Benney, R. Charles, E. Doucette, J. Miletti, M. Senga, K. Stein and T.E. Tezduyar, "Fluid-Structure Interaction Modeling of Complex Parachute Designs with the Space-Time Finite Element Techniques", Computers & Fluids, 36 (2007) 127-135.