RADIAL REEFING METHOD FOR ACCELERATED AND CONTROLLED PARACHUTE OPENING

Future Army airdrop systems will require aerial insertion of cargo and personnel from low altitudes to minimize ground-fire hazards. A radial reefing method was developed as a potential candidate to meet this requirement. The radial reefing method involves selecting equally spaced radials of a parachute canopy and reefing these radials near the skirt; concurrently, the canopy fabric adjacent to the reefed radials is puckered. Reefing the canopy this way creates large fabric pockets near the skirt during initial canopy inflation, resulting in an accelerated and controlled parachute opening. This was confirmed by full-scale airdrop testing using single Army personnel and cargo parachutes. In addition to demonstrating promises for single-canopy low-altitude airdrop applications, the radial reefing method also shows potential to improve clustered parachute opening by minimizing canopy enfolding and slumping.