Modeling, simulation and validation of supersonic parachute inflation dynamics during Mars landing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-fidelity computational framework for simulating supersonic parachute inflation during Mars landings, incorporating complex physical effects and validated against NASA data, advancing parachute design capabilities.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-physics CFD framework that models parachute inflation with detailed physical interactions and initial folding, validated with experimental Mars landing data.

Findings

Reasonable agreement with NASA Curiosity data

Framework captures flow compressibility and fabric porosity effects

Provides safety factor estimates for parachute systems

Abstract

A high fidelity multi-physics Eulerian computational framework is presented for the simulation of supersonic parachute inflation during Mars landing. Unlike previous investigations in this area, the framework takes into account an initial folding pattern of the parachute, the flow compressibility effect on the fabric material porosity, and the interactions between supersonic fluid flows and the suspension lines. Several adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)-enabled, large edge simulation (LES)-based, simulations of a full-size disk-gap-band (DGB) parachute inflating in the low-density, low-pressure, carbon dioxide (CO2) Martian atmosphere are reported. The comparison of the drag histories and the first peak forces between the simulation results and experimental data collected during the NASA Curiosity Rover's Mars atmospheric entry shows reasonable agreements. Furthermore, a rudimentary material failure analysis is performed to provide an estimate of the safety factor for the parachute decelerator system. The proposed framework demonstrates the potential of using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)-based simulation tools for future supersonic parachute design.