Modeling the Structural Dynamics of Parachutes with Support for Multi-Dimensional Manifold Mesh Refinement

We have developed a computational model to study the structural dynamics of parachute deployment using adaptive finite element analysis. The mathematical model uses a large deformation formulation of nonlinear elasticity with two dimensional membranes and one dimensional stiffeners. Constant or projected pressure loading is supported with the model, but fully coupled fluid-structure interaction is not addressed in this work. We leveraged the multi-physics package GRINS wherein we implemented large deformation membrane and cable finite element formulations. GRINS is built on the libMesh finite element library. A key aspect of libMesh is that it supports adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) on gener al unstructured meshes on parallel super computers. The novel contribution from this project is added support for AMR with mesh topologies that have conforming one and two-dimensional manifolds as well as possible coupling to three-dimensional elements. To the best of our knowledge, this is a unique capability in open-source finite element libraries. The AMR technology is illustrated on several examples for large deformation and materially nonlinear geometries with conforming one-dimensional and two-dimensional manifolds. A final illustration is shown on a parachute geometry similar to a parachute used in the Orion space vehicle.

Grantor dc:publisher

State University of New York at Buffalo

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Haynes, Christopher

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bauman, Paul
• Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• mechanical engineering

Statement dc:rights

• Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.
• Copyright retained by author.

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78021

OAI record oai:identifier

https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=qdc&identifier=oai%3Aubir.buffalo.edu%3A10477%2F78021