Lightening the burden of heavy loads
Textile wing structures are used for precise and autonomous aerial delivery of heavy loads. Consequently, they must have increased aerodynamic efficiency and low weight to be capable of parachute-like use. Moreover, a high performance guidance unit is essential for the control of the parachute flight path, as are an adequate actuator and sensors for the control mechanisms and navigation, respectively. However, the successful application of textile structures for lifting surfaces necessitates extensive analysis and assessment of requirements that take into account the flight mechanics. To meet this goal, the FASTWING project developed and validated a set of numerical tools for aerodynamic deployment and dynamic flare analysis of textile structures. In the process development of a high performance parafoil, a new video analysis method was applied in order to get valuable information about the opening sequence and general parachute and parafoil behaviour. The video camera was mounted onto a vehicle with a newly manufactured mechanical device with a perspex dome. As high accuracy and soft landing are of high importance, the video results comprise a precious source for acquiring the relative motion between parafoil and load. A state-of-the-art tracking algorithm was used for the analysis of the relative motion so as to acquire the data that represents the real motion of the canopy. This could yield better results for the parafoil aerodynamic model identification. However, poor visibility, partial obstructions and the high frequent fluttering of the textile vane posed problems that were difficult to resolve by video. Future collaboration with research and development organisations working on applications with gliding and non-gliding parachutes may indicate new approaches and techniques in the field.
