Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd. is an engineering company that provides computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions. They analyzed parachute designs for the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) using CFD. The project involved modeling elliptical, conical, ringslot, and PTA-G2 parachute geometries in CAD software. Meshes were generated in ICEM CFD and simulations run in CFD Expert Lite to compute drag forces, coefficients, pressures, and velocities. Results were visualized in Paraview. The analysis aimed to help optimize parachute designs.

1. CFD Analysis
Modeling, Simulation and Analysis of
Parachute Design
By:
Shivam Chaubey
Technical Intern
National Institute of Technology Silchar
Under:
Mr. Basant Kumar Gupta
Chief Executive
ZEUS NUMERIX Pvt. Ltd.

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY
• Founded in 2003 by a group of IIT Bombay students under Prof. Gopal R. Shevare , Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd. (ZNPL) took its commercial shape in August 2004.
• ZNPL is an engineering company that provides total solution to engineering problems in
fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Electromagnetics, Computational
Structural Mechanics, Dynamics and Controls.
• Its India’s only indigenous company which has developed and marketed numerical
simulation products in the above fields.
• Company’s vision: “Innovate unique engineering solutions to benefit business, industry or
society”
• The company takes up R&D work from various departments of Indian Government and
abroad like Aerospace and defense, Power and Nuclear, Construction and Infrastructure,
Heavy Machinery and Fluid Machinery .
2
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.

3. Problem Statement
Modeling, Simulation and Analysis of a Parachute.
Client Name: Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) Lab under
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
Expected Goals
•Computing Aerodynamic Drag forces ,Drag coefficient, Pressure disribution and Velocity
Magnitude.
3
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.

4. 4
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
PARACHUTES
A parachute is a device used to slow the
motion of an object through an atmosphere by
creating drag, or in the case of ram-air
parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are
usually made out of light, strong cloth,
originally silk, now most commonly nylon.
Depending on the situation, parachutes are
used with a variety of loads, including people,
food, equipment, space capsules, and bombs.
Applications:
i. Lifesaving device used by troops.
ii. food and medical supplies are often dropped by parachute whenever
natural calamities occurs.
iii. Serve as landing brakes for high-speed jet airplanes.

5. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
5
Types of Parachutes designed and analyzed
Elliptical Conical
Ringslot PTA-G2(Extended Skirt)

6. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
6
Layout of procedure followed
Initial structure
(Catia v5)
Surface Meshing on
parachutes and domain
(ICEM CFD 14.0)
Unstructured volume
mesh
(GridZ)
Applying boundary
conditions
(CFD Exert Lite)
Simulations &Results
(CFD Expert Lite
&
Paraview)

7. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
7
MESH
Unstructured Grid is chosen over Structured Grids
Reasons:
• Less Mesh Generation Time
• Good result accuracy obtained with improved mesh quality
MESHING is done in following phases:
1. Creating surface mesh using Triangular Mesh.
2. Creating Tetrahedral Volume Meshes .
Softwares used for mesh generation includes ICEM-CFD and GridZ
Triangular Mesh
Tetrahedral Mesh

8. Inlet
Velocity
Outlet
pressure
Wall Parachute
5.5m/s 0.0 Pa Symmetry
boundary
Wall viscous
boundary
Density Dynamic viscosity Gas constant
1.225 Kg/m^3 1.716e-5 Ns/m^2 287.0 J/kg K
Data Used For Simulations
Boundary Conditions:
Values taken for analysis:
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
8

9. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
9
SOLVER
The solution was done on Zeus Numerix Solver CFDExpert-Lite.
Solver Settings
Scale factor = 0.001
Pressure Based solver
Viscous model: Standard laminar flow
Velocity Inlet and Pressure outlet were used
Gauge Pressure=0 Pa
Free Stream velocity=5.5 m/s
Convergence tolerance = 0.000001
Pressure under relaxation=0.3
Momentum under relaxation=0.7
Other settings are kept standard and default

10. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
10
Elliptical Geometry:
Skirt
Diameter
Vent
Diameter
Minor Axis
(b)
Major axis
(c)
No. Of
Gores
2818.09 149.42 998.594 1409.045 36
ELEPTICAL:
Geometry: One Gore has been created which later on
converted into meshes.Full parachute view is given below.

11. Experiment 1.a
Parachute Thickness
2mm
Elliptical Mesh
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
11
Surface Meshing:
Eleptical Meshing

12. Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
127530 22105
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
12
Unstructured Volume Mesh
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

13. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
13
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
218.4844 N 0.5724 2710

14. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
14
Results in PARAVIEW
Stream Velocity Tracer Velocity Magnitude
Total Pressure Pressure

15. Parachute Thickness
5mm
Experiment 1.b
Elliptical Surface Mesh
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
15
Surface Meshing:
Elliptical Meshing

16. Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
125486 21765
Unstructured Volume Mesh
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
16
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

17. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
17
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
220.14N 0.5739 300
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results

18. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
18
Results in PARAVIEW
Stream Velocity Tracer Velocity Magnitude
Total Pressure Pressure

19. Experiment 1.c
Geometry:
Solid structure has been created with a thickness of 5mm.
Dimensions are shown below:-
Skirt Diameter Vent Diameter Minor Axis (b) Major axis (a)
2882.94 307.426 997.042 1441.47
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
19
Elliptical Geometry:

20. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
20
Surface Meshing:
Elliptical Meshing
Parachute Thickness
10mm
Elliptical Mesh

21. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
21
Unstructured Volume Mesh
Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
180114 33712
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

22. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
22
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
161.65 N 0.545 1000

23. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
23
Results in PARAVIEW
Stream Velocity Tracer Velocity Magnitude
Total PressurePressure

24. Skirt
Diameter
Vent
Diameter
No. Of
Gores
3264.256 86.128 30
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
24
Conical Geometry:
Experiment – 2
Geometry : One Gore has been created
which later on converted into meshes .
Full parachute view is given below.

25. Thickness
2mm
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
25
Conical Mesh
Surface Meshing:
Conical Meshing

26. Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
140813 24041
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
26
Unstructured volume mesh:
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

27. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
27
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
290.36 N 0.7995 1731

28. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
28
Results in PARAVIEW
Stream Velocity Tracer Velocity Magnitude
Total Pressure Pressure

29. Skirt
Diameter
Vent
Diameter
No. Of
Gores
3790 100.55 30
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
29
Ringslot Geometry:
Experiment – 3
Geometry : One Gore has been created which
later on converted into meshes .
Full parachute view is given below.

30. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
30
Ringslot Mesh:
Thickness
2mm
Surface Meshing:
Conical Meshing

31. Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
129317 21977
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
31
Unstructured volume mesh:
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

32. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
32
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
358.07 N 1.039 1886

33. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
33
Results in PARAVIEW
Stream Velocity Tracer Velocity Magnitude
Total Pressure Pressure

34. Skirt
Diameter
Vent
Diameter
No. Of
Gores
8329.354 214 24
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
34
PTA-G2 Geometry:
Experiment – 4
Geometry : One Gore has been created
which later on converted into meshes .
Full parachute view is given below.

35. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
35
PTA-G2 Mesh
Thickness
2mm
Surface Meshing:
Conical Meshing

36. Total no. of Elements Total no. of Nodes
162983 28505
Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
36
Unstructured volume mesh:
Quality Statistics Unstructured Volume Mesh
Data from GridZ:

37. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
37
Results:
Drag Force exerted on parachute by atmosphere :
F=1/2𝜌𝐶𝑑𝐴𝑉^2
Where F came by CFD Expert Software.
Results are shown below using Paraview
a. Stream Velocity Tracer.
b. Velocity magnitude
c. Total Pressure
d. Pressure
Data & Results
Drag force Cd No. of
iteration
150.86 N 0.43377 1435

38. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
38
Results in PARAVIEW
Velocity Magnitude
Total Pressure
Pressure

39. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey
© Zeus Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
39
SOFTWARES
The following softwares were proved helpful in completion of this project
• CATIA V5
• ANSYS FLUENT V6
• ICEM-CFD 14.0
• PARAVIEW
• GRIDZ
• CFDEXPERT-LITE
• CFD POST

40. Project on Parachutes by Shivam Chaubey © Zeus
Numerix Pvt. Ltd.
40
THANK YOU