Fluid–structure interaction-based aerodynamic modeling for flight dynamics simulation of parafoil system

Prediction of aerodynamic force is a crucial issue for parafoil canopy as the strong nonlinear fluid–structure interaction (FSI) between the flexible canopy material and flow field. Flight tests and wind tunnel experiments are difficult to analyze the aerodynamics of parafoil because of the limitation and difficulty of data measurement in an unknown environment. The objective of this study was to computationally derive the aerodynamic characteristics of parafoil, as an alternative to expensive and unrepeatable test regimes. Different from previous works that assume canopy structure as a rigid body and serve for the design of parafoil, this study focused on the precise dynamic modeling of parafoil based on FSI simulations. To investigate the aerodynamic performance of the full-scale canopy with stabilizers for better control, the strong coupling FSI simulations were performed using the incompressible computational fluid dynamics techniques. The highlight of this paper is to explore the effects of canopy inflation and trailing edge deflections on aerodynamic performance. Then the aerodynamic coefficients are identified by a linear regression method using the obtained database of high fidelity lift and drag forces. Furthermore, an accurate six-degree-of-freedom dynamic model of the parafoil system is implemented based on the estimated coefficients. Simulations are conducted to prove the dynamic stability of the model and the feasibility of trajectory tracking. At last, simulation results of basic motions are compared with airdrop testing data, which demonstrates that the established model is capable of accurately predicting the flight behaviors of the parafoil system.