Beyond Deadalus' dreams
Manoeuvrable parachute-like textile wind structures, like parafoils or paragliders, were initially developed to meet the requirements of the leisure and sports market. The increasing demand for high controllability and better gliding ratio has been the driving force for improving their quality substantially. Through this process the use of parafoils in more challenging commercial applications has been revealed. To this end, FASTWing's aim was to develop high performance parafoils to be exploited in humanitarian aid and military delivery projects. These could serve as rescue/recovery systems, i.e. "Aircraft Rescue System", "Space Vehicle Rescue System" or "Space Vehicle Recovery", in crisis areas. Specifically, FASTWing partners strived for advanced design and simulation tools implementing high-quality features towards high accuracy and soft landing and reliable opening of the parachute system. Hence, they focused on developing new technologies that would couple the desired features with the delivery of heavy loads (from 50kg to 10 tons). In this frame a ram-air parafoil for heavy load delivery was manufactured by one of the network's partners. The new construction was equipped with an optimised airfoil and planform and exhibited high glide ratio and good manoeuvrability performances. Scaled models, utlising a guiding system, were employed for jump and wind tunnel testing and validation of new design works. A variety of loads ranging from 1 000kg to 3 500kg was tested for assessing the delivery process. The potential to perform wind tunnel tests obtaining accurate aerodynamic information is of vast importance since it is most beneficial for the simulation efforts. In addition, a prediction of the new fabrications' behaviours under variable conditions provides a unique tool and high flexibility towards design optimisation. Therefore, the prospects for further commercial exploitation, manufacturing advanced applications that would facilitate the delivery of heavy loads under adverse conditions, are great.
