1. It appears that the two-dimensional models, devised to acquire some inspiration, not necessarily to mimic the three-dimensional aerodynamics of parachute canopies, are fairly well developed through the use of vortex-element methods (discrete vortices with exact boundary conditions, discrete vortices with approximate boundary conditions, vortex tracing methods, and vortex panels). The results are in conformity with the more modest objectives of vortex models: identification of large scale structures rising above (or floating over) the small-scale turbulence and acquisition of new insights. The mismatch between model-based predictions and experimental results is not entirely due, nor always attributable, to deficiencies in the model, but also lies in the three-dimensional nature of "two-dimensional" experiments. Even though these models need further work and verification, future efforts should be channeled in part towards their generalization into full three-dimensional models (three-dimensional vortex elements such as vortons or sticks, panel methods based on deforming, interacting, and intersecting non-axisymmetric vortex filaments, and space-discretization methods based on full Navier-Stokes or Reynolds equations or their various approximations. These models may be able to make definite predictions about the results of future experiments if they aretuned to the physics of the flow. In the meantime the value - of careful physical experiments cannot be emphasized enough and some are being carried out 35-36to fulfill this objective.
2. Aerodynamic decelerators - An engineering review
3. Cockrell, D. J., Frucht, Y. I., and Harwood, R. J. "A Revision of the Added Mass Concept as Applied to Parachute Motion," AIAA Paper 89-0895-CP.