Parachute landing precision is primarily affected by precise glide slope control and steering. In these experiments, aerodynamic forces and moments were measured for different bleed-air spoiler configurations which varied the number of spoilers, spanwise location, and chordwise location on a rigid model. These variations in spoiler configuration caused differences in the lift, drag, and side force as well as the pitch, roll, and yaw moments. The effectiveness of bleed-air spoilers was assessed for glide slope and steering control. Glide slope control was measured by changes in the glide ratio, L/D, while steering capability was assessed by changes in the roll and yaw moments. Testing was performed in the USAF Academy subsonic wind tunnel at a chord-based Reynolds Number of 500,000 at angles of attack between -6° and 20°. The data comparison showed that the spoiler location has a significant impact on glide slope and steering, and that models with two spoilers at 25 % chord provide the greatest opportunity to increase parachute landing precision.
展开▼
