Reduced Order Modeling of Parachute Systems Using Large Scale Finite Element Models

In recent years, autonomously guided parachute systems have been developed with the goal of increasing the landing accuracy of airdrop operations. These precision airdrop systems utilize an onboard global positioning system (GPS) coupled with a guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system to continuously monitor and correct the flight path of the parachute system during descent. A critical component of the GNC system is an algorithm that predicts the response of the system to various aerodynamic forces in real-time that are typically based on a low-order multi-degree of freedom (DOF) dynamics model. Reduced order modeling is the process of representing a complex dynamic system with many DOF with a model having relatively few DOF. The goal of this study is to examine the use of large scale finite element models to construct and calibrate Reduced Order Models (ROM) for parachute systems. The resulting ROM would provide parachute designers with a simple tool to examine parachute behavior under various operating conditions. The use of numerical simulations to calibrate the ROM would help to eliminate the number of physical tests needed to characterize a parachute system’s properties. In this study, a 6 degree of freedom ROM is adopted. The system dynamic properties for the ROM and the resultant forces and moments acting on the ROM are obtained from finite element simulations. The 6 DOF model originally proposed by Cockrell and Doherr and later used by Dobrokhodov is adopted for the ROM. The finite element (FE) code, TENSION, is used to perform the large scale simulations and extract the ROM dynamic properties and resultant forces. Several examples are performed that verify the ROM procedure by comparing ROM predictions to FE simulations for various parachute system trajectories. The performance of the ROM is shown to be excellent for in-plane motion under an oscillating wind field. It is shown, however, that the ROM procedure deteriorates as the FE model is refined by adding more DOF. It is demonstrated that, for highly deformable FE models with many DOF, more sophisticated ROM procedures are needed.