Disk-Gap-Band Parachute Supersonic FSI Analysis with High-Fidelity Geometry and Boundary-Layer Representation

Abstract

The Mars landing system has been developed with a disk-gap-band (DGB) parachute in supersonic flow regime. The Mars' thin density creates a scaling challenge that is hard to overcome in windtunnel tests. Therefore, a computational analysis will require for parachute design. We use NURBS basis functions for spatial discretization in both structural and fluid mechanics computations. The parachute shape becomes smoother than what we get from a typical finite element discretization.