Abstract
This study encompasses the impact of fabric construction, seam angle, and impact force on the behaviour of the parachute canopy. The ripstop and plain-woven fabric stitched at 0° and 45° seam angles have been subjected to the three levels of tensile impact forces derived through a scale-down approach of the C-9 parachute and the behaviour is analysed using a high-speed digital camera. Results indicate that seam angle has a major influence on the performance of the specimen under impact load. The plain-woven samples showed more ability to absorb impact force but higher damage, especially at seam lines of 0° seamed specimen than the ripstop samples. Both the fabric specimens of 0° seam angle induce a form of seam line damage due to the corresponding higher impact force. In contrast, the 45° seam bias angles are quite stable at seam lines and also produce higher work done under varying impact forces.
Acknowledgements
The present work is technically supported by the ‘Motion Analysis & Vehicle Engineering Tesscorn Systems India Pvt Ltd.’
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.