Best Parachute Design: Minimizing Material Usage

[Aeroneer]

Hey guys;
for a project, I'm researching different parachute shapes and their efficiencies.
My question is what is the best parachute design for the least amount of parachute material (so it takes up less room when stored).
Let the brainstorm-ing begin! :)

 

[Danger]

I would go with a military-grade parawing.

 

[berkeman]

Hey guys;
for a project, I'm researching different parachute shapes and their efficiencies.
My question is what is the best parachute design for the least amount of parachute material (so it takes up less room when stored).
Let the brainstorm-ing begin! :)

Sorry, we don't do your project work for you. You're an Aerospace Engineering Student, so what research have you done so far on your project? What sources of information have you read? What are your initial impressions on the different parachute designs? Are there more than two basic types? How do you define "efficiency"?

 

[Danger]

You're an Aerospace Engineering Student

Therein lies the advantage of a Mentor. I had no idea that he was a student, and thought that it was a personal project. Sorry for violating the "response to homework" rules; I didn't realize that I was doing so.

 

[Aeroneer]

Sorry, we don't do your project work for you. You're an Aerospace Engineering Student, so what research have you done so far on your project? What sources of information have you read? What are your initial impressions on the different parachute designs? Are there more than two basic types? How do you define "efficiency"?

haha no no no I wouldn't have you guys DO my project for me... This is just a side project, extra-curricular stuff. Just coming up with ideas now... And I haven't started the research yet so I'll let u know what I come up with when I get this Orbital Mech Assignment out the way.
And about the efficiency, it's more of a low amount of space taken up when folded and lower speed of descent that I'm looking for.

 

[berkeman]

Therein lies the advantage of a Mentor. I had no idea that he was a student, and thought that it was a personal project. Sorry for violating the "response to homework" rules; I didn't realize that I was doing so.

No worries Danger. Your response was pretty generic, so I had no problem with it.

 

[berkeman]

haha no no no I wouldn't have you guys DO my project for me... This is just a side project, extra-curricular stuff. Just coming up with ideas now... And I haven't started the research yet so I'll let u know what I come up with when I get this Orbital Mech Assignment out the way.
And about the efficiency, it's more of a low amount of space taken up when folded and lower speed of descent that I'm looking for.

Interesting. But I'm not sure that's a good definition of efficiency. As long as you can flare at landing, who cares how fast you descend? Well, I guess if you're paying money for each jump, you would care...

 

[Aeroneer]

well, yeah, that's the thing! We need to be able to control our speed of descent, and holes are apparently good for stability, so that's a plus. and round with a curtain seems to increase stability and is probably best for descent control. But what if there were 2 smaller round ones, you know? ... see, these are things that I should find time and be calculating eh
and yes, efficiency is kind of a loose term for me at the moment... more output per input's what I find defines it best; quantitative OR qualitative...