Matt's reaserch

I just thought I would give you a little update on what I'm doing in my reaserch at WPI, now that I have some good pictures of it.
In the picture below, the thick black line on the left is actually a airfoil (like an airplane wing). You can also see a parachute, which is the green blob on the right. The whole setup is sitting inside a water tunnel. What I'm doing is studying the effect of the airfoil (which creates a vortex, like a tornado) on the parachute. The water flows from left to right. We're doing it in water instead of air because it is easier to study, but the results are actually directly comparable, since they are both "fluids."
We have a grant for this research because there have been some occasions where paratroopers chutes have collapsed after they jumped out of the plane. I don't believe anyone has died from it yet, because they all have had backup chutes. And if you're thinking of skydiving, don't worry about this unless there are other planes flying in close formation with you. =)


This picture shows the parachute "breathing" or expanding and contracting. (Look close, it is very subtle).