Aerodynamic Analysis of Cargo Speed Reduction Parachutes using Numerical simulation

Cargo parachutes are commonly used to deliver heavy instruments to areas with difficult access. Perceived, good stability and low descent rate are two essential parameters for a recovery system. According to the above factors, one of the popular cargo chute configurations is a combination of a large chute as the main chute and a smaller one as a stabilizer chute. Since there is few scientific research that has studied on aerodynamic characteristics of this cargo chute configuration, a three-dimensional numerical simulation was performed here to investigate this kind of parachute system. To this end, main chute dimensions were computed based on mission definition (weight and descent rate). In the following, the effects of cargo distance from parachutes are studied for an optimal design of the main and stabilizing parachute. At five intervals of 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 times the diameter of the main parachute, between the cargo and the main parachute distance, the values of drag coefficients and lateral forces for the main and stabilizing parachute are reported.