Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations of Supersonic Parachute Inflation behind Slender and Blunt Bodies at Earth and Mars

A high-fidelity Fluid-Structure Interaction toolsuite is used to investigate supersonic parachute inflation behind slender and blunt bodies in both Earth and Martian atmospheres. Comparisons to the ASPIRE SR02 and SR03 and the Mars 2020 reconstructed flight data demonstrates the capability to this analysis to accurately predict the ramp up in load during the initial inflation, to provide reasonable agreement in key metrics such as peak load and long-term drag performance, and the ability to capture inflation dynamics such as area oscillations as the system decelerates. Comparisons of slender vs. blunt payload shapes also highlights how the smaller wake and sharper gradient in Mach and dynamic pressure deficits can lead to more asymmetry in the slender body parachute inflation canopy shapes. Analysis of the Mars Sample Return / Sample Retrieval Lander parachute inflation verified the much higher load expected vs. the Mars 2020 mission, and sensitivity analysis at higher Mach number and dynamic pressure environments indicated larger oscillations in area and load vs. the baseline Mach number deployment. Overall, these results highlight the ability of FSI analysis to provide unique insights into supersonic parachute inflation dynamics, and set the stage for this to become a useful tool to future missions to understand performance at both nominal and off-nominal conditions.