Multi-Physics Models for Parachute Deployment and Braking

The main objective of this STTR Phase I effort is two-fold. First, to develop a robust approach for coupling the flow solver Kestrel with the multidisciplinary software tool AERO Suite in order to enable the physics-based modeling and simulation of the dynamics of Aerodynamics Decelerator Systems (ADS) such as parachutes from deployment to terminal velocity or terminal descent and touchdown, and the effect of such ADS on bodies of interest. Second, to demonstrate its feasibility. The key components of this approach are a Chimera-based overlapping domain decomposition method for coupling Kestrel and AERO-F in space, and a stable and second-order flexible procedure for coupling them in time. The key enablers of the resulting simulation capability are the following pillars of AERO Suite for the simulation of highly nonlinear fluid-structure interaction problems: the second-order embedded boundary method FIVER (Finite Volume method with Exact two-material Riemann problems) for achieving robustness with respect to large structural motions and deformations, self-contact, and topological changes; the associated adaptive mesh refinement module for tracking boundary layers, shocks, and other flow features and keeping them at all times well resolved; and the corresponding dynamic load balancing strategy for achieving acceptable parallel performance on DoD HPCMP architectures.