Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Analysis of Parachute Canopies Design for Aludra SR-10 UAV as a Parachute Recovery Systems (PRS)

Abstract

Unmanned Systems Technology (UST) Aludra SR-10 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

was purposely designed for survey and mapping mission. In the early design stage of

Aludra SR-10 UAV, skid and belly landing method was used as a recovery method. This

type of landing method may encounter a harsh landing on hard soil and gravel,

producing high impact momentum on the aircraft body and may cause structural or

system damage. To increase the safety of Aludra SR-10 UAV operation, Parachute

Recovery System (PRS) are purposely design to replace the belly landing technique for

landing method. This study was performed by simulation approach (using

Computational Fluid Dynamic, CFD) to analyse an aerodynamic performance for

selecting the best canopy design that can produce higher drag during recovery process.

This computational study focuses on an aerodynamic flow simulation over three

dimensional surface on two different canopy designs (i.e. annular canopy and

cruciform canopy), and also focuses on drag coefficient in a steady and turbulent

condition. Two‐equation k-ε turbulence flow was modelled by adopting Navier-Stokes

numerical equations to simulate aerodynamic characteristics and drag. The

computational results with an efficient grid study shows an annular parachute canopy

produced highest drag coefficient (1.03) than cruciform parachute canopy (0.91). The

findings also highlighted the significance of separation and recirculating flows behind

studied geometries, which in turn was responsible in producing the drag. This

computational simulation analysis successfully provided a baseline annular parachute

design was about 2.41 meter of the nominal diameter was selected as the main

parachute which can be applied for this research.