Abstract
This paper describes permeability measurements for porous fabrics as influenced by strain, humidity, air flow rate, and fabric elasticity. The focus is on standard parachute fabrics, where the fabric's porosity and air permeability influence the rate of steady-state descent, and also affect the complicated fluid-structure interactions taking place during parachute opening and deployment. High strength nylon parachute fabrics showed relatively small permeability changes due to strain, humidity, and flow rate. Comparative measurements on elastomeric fabrics showed much larger changes in air flow due to fabric dimensional changes at high pressures and flow rates. Elastomeric fabrics that stretch and change permeability in response to higher pressures and flow rates may be able to reduce the “opening shock” during the parachute deployment phase.