CFD Toolkit for Modeling Parachutists in Freefall

A recent increase in the occurrence of pilot parachute deployment hesitation events during training has focused attention on the flow about parachutists in freefall. An improved understanding of this flow will contribute to better equipment and improved safety. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is a powerful technique for exploring such flows. Once validated against experimental data, CFD solutions may be used to probe the flow in detail and to evaluate the effects of changes in body position or equipment configurations. However, a high level of modeling and analysis expertise is required to generate accurate solutions of appropriate fidelity. In this project, Creare will develop a Freefall Modeling Toolkit, in which the modeling process will be simplified and the user guided through each of the modeling, meshing, analysis, iteration, and visualization tasks required to generate a valid solution. In Phase I we will demonstrate our approach by modeling a specific parachutist configuration and validating the results against experimental data. We will then develop a design for the toolkit based on the results and customer feedback. In Phase II we will implement the Freefall Toolkit and validate it for a wide range of body positions, equipment configurations, and drop conditions.