**3. Results**

#### *3.1. Drop Test Evaluation*

To obtain information about the forces, the test conditions were designed so that they corresponded to the conventional values at which the skydiving or rescue systems are activated. It was intended to determine the G factor generated by the canopy at the typical terminal speeds in a stable belly-to-earth position. The conditions of the drop test were specified as:


Information related to parachute geometry will not be presented, as it is considered the property of the company that provided the canopy for the test. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this research, that information is not important. Generally, a gliding parachute equipped with a slider to reduce the opening shock load was used. The results presented in this study define the maximum aerodynamic force generated by the canopy for the subsequent analysis. The point corresponding with the maximum opening shock load is highlighted in Figure 9 by point three.

**Figure 9.** Overload record during reference drop test. 1. release of the system from the airplane; 2. reaching the activation speed–releasing the drogue chute; 3. point of the maximum system overload; and 4. initial point of the steady descent.

The drop test identified the maximum overload as G = 6.3 [–]. By converting the overload to a force based on the input mass using Equation (1), the opening shock load is obtained:

$$F\_{\text{shock\\_load}} = G \cdot \lg{m\_{\text{laborator}}} = 6.3 \cdot 9.81 \cdot 130 = 8034.4 \, \text{[N]} \tag{1}$$
