High-Fidelity Simulations of Supersonic Rigid Parachute Dynamics

The present involves numerical simulations of a capsule and supersonic parachute re-entering the Martian atmosphere at supersonic regimes using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) coupled with a wall-model to describe the near-wall dynamics. Parachute structure will be be rigid, aiming to separate the effects of structural instabilities from the unsteadiness introduced by the turbulent flow.

To model the parachute structure, an Immersed-Boundary method (IBM) technique will be used to manage the thin interface that represents the decelerator. Recent unsuccessful European missions (i.e. ExoMars 2016) highlighted the challenge of predicting capsule dynamics with supersonic decelerators. The failure of Schiaparelli EDM landing resulted from improper evaluation of coupled oscillations between the descent module and parachute. Current models and experiments proved insufficient, necessitating further investigation.

To meet the demands of high-resolution simulations for the capsule-parachute system, which are crucial for accurately representing the interaction between the wake and canopy area, the use of modern HPC systems is paramount. These systems are further enhanced by the groundbreaking GPU technology. High resolution simulations of this flow configuration can aid the design of more dependable re-entry systems and can also serve as a reference database for developing advanced models to significantly reduce computational costs.