Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Karafillis, Pavlina
Other Authors: Jeehwan Kim.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112571
_version_ 1826207540579401728
author Karafillis, Pavlina
author2 Jeehwan Kim.
author_facet Jeehwan Kim.
Karafillis, Pavlina
author_sort Karafillis, Pavlina
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T13:51:09Z
format Thesis
id mit-1721.1/112571
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language eng
last_indexed 2024-09-23T13:51:09Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1125712019-04-12T11:28:54Z Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength Karafillis, Pavlina Jeehwan Kim. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (page 29). Parachutes are commonly used in space mission landings. With increasing payloads, parachutes are getting larger, bearing larger loads and operating at faster speeds. Designing these devices requires a knowledge of aerodynamics, fluid flow, and the mechanical properties of cloth. A brief overview of the basics of parachute design are described. There are many possible failure modes, but catastrophic failures are caused by failures at the weakest point of the parachute, the seam. Seams are characterized by a seam efficiency, a percentage of the strength of the cloth used to stitch the seam together. In this study, seams and cloth were tested to failure on an Instron 5582 to experimentally determine their respective Ultimate Tensile Strengths (UTS). The ratio of the seam UTS to the cloth UTS was used to determine seam efficiency. Results indicated no clear relationship between strain rate and seam efficiency in the range tested. However, a strong relationship between stitch concentration and seam efficiency was established. A best fit curve was developed and with an an R2=0.80. In order to better understand the failure mode, the open source Matlab function Ncorr was also used to provide a visualization of the strain on the coupons during testing. The results of the digital correlation analysis performed by Ncorr are also reported, and indicate the importance of transverse and shear strain in causing catastrophic failure. by Pavlina Karafillis. S.B. 2017-12-05T19:18:48Z 2017-12-05T19:18:48Z 2017 2017 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112571 1013189142 eng MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 29 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Karafillis, Pavlina
Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title_full Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title_fullStr Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title_full_unstemmed Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title_short Characterizing the failure of parachute seams : the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
title_sort characterizing the failure of parachute seams the impact of stitch concentration and strain rate on ultimate tensile strength
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112571
work_keys_str_mv AT karafillispavlina characterizingthefailureofparachuteseamstheimpactofstitchconcentrationandstrainrateonultimatetensilestrength