Welcome to Dr. Jean Potvin's Homepage

Jean Potvin Professor  Department of Physics College of Arts and Sciences Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO 63103, USA. (314) 977-8424 Email: potvinj@slu.edu

Education - Ratings - Professional Service

• B. Sc. in Physics, 1978, Universite Laval, Quebec City, Canada
• M. Sc. in Physics, 1980, Universite Laval, Quebec City, Canada
• Ph. D. in Physics, 1985, University of Colorado-Boulder
• FAA Senior Parachute Rigger (since 1998)
• USPA Parachute Jumpmaster and Instructor (S/L) 1994 - 2001
• Test and sport parachutist with over 2400 jumps
• Co-founder, with Mr. Gary Peek , of the Parks College Parachute Research Group (www.pcprg.com)
• Course Director, H. G. Heinrich Parachute Systems Short Course , since 2001
• Member, AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technical Committee, since 1995

Teaching Experience at Saint Louis University

• Introductory College Physics I and II (100-level)- with or without calculus
• Modern Physics
• Introduction to Astronomy
• Optics (i.e. laser physics and wave optics)
• Calculus I
• Introduction to Weather (while at Parks - Cahokia)
• Physical Processes in the Atmosphere (while at Parks - Cahokia)

Research Interests

• Basic physics: Nature of the force of drag during decelerating and accelerating motions.
• Fluid mechanics: Interaction between fluids and limp structures such as fabric materials.
• Aerodynamics: Inflation and flight of parachutes.
• Engineering: Design and testing new parachutes for cargo airdrop, government jumpers and sport skydivers.
• Test Jumping - Check out the movie at the bottom of this page

Publications (from 1995 to present)

• "General Mass Capture Model for Swiftly-Opening Parachutes". Submitted for publication; November 2007.
• "Three-Stage Model for Slider-Reefed Parafoil Inflation"; AIAA paper 2007-2501; with G. Peek; presented at the 19th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Williamsburg, VA, May 21-24, 2007.
Download a copy
• "Semi-Numerical Derivation of the Opening Shock Factor and Inflation Time for Slider-Reefed Parafoils"; AIAA paper 2007-2508; with B. Hurst and G. Peek; presented at the 19th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Williamsburg, VA, May 21-24, 2007.
Download a copy
• "Testing Without Load Cells - Can Opening Shock Be Estimated From Video Data Only?"; AIAA paper 2007-2551; with G. Peek; presented at the 19th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Williamsburg, VA, May 21-24, 2007.
Download a copy , and a copy of the talk
• "Comparative DSSA Study of Payload-Container Dynamics Prior to, During and After Parachute Inflation"; AIAA paper 2007-2564; with R. Charles and K. Desabrais; presented at the 19th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Williamsburg, VA, May 21-24, 2007.
• "Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation: Rocket-Propelled Payloads"; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 3, pp. 1039-1042, 2007.
Download a copy of a talk that summarizes the findings of the Momentum-Impulse series listed below
• "Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation: Fixed-Point Drops "; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 3, pp. 1026-1029, 2007.
• "Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation: Clusters "; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 2, pp. 687-691, 2007.
• "Momentum-Impulse Balance and Parachute Inflation: Dis-Reefing"; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 2, pp. 691-694, 2007.
• "Universality Considerations for Graphing Parachute Opening Shock Factor Versus Mass Ratio "; Journal of Aircraft, 44, No. 2, pp. 528 - 538, 2007.
• "A New Inflation Model for Low-Porosity Hemispherical Parachutes: Validation and Implementation in PIMS V3.0"; AIAA paper 2005-1687; with J. Papke, E. Brighton ,M. Farmer and G. Peek; presented at the 18th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Munich, Germany, May 23-26, 2005.
• “Modeling the Interaction of Sub-scale Parachutes With Atmospheric Turbulent Eddies”; with R. Wright;AIAA paper 2005-1675; presented at the 18th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Munich, Germany, May 23-26, 2005.
• “Inflation and Steady-Descent Characteristics of Truncated Cone Decelerators”; with G. E. Peek; AIAA paper 2005-1620; presented at the 18th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar, Munich, Germany, May 23-26, 2005.
• “Glide Performance Study of Standard and Hybrid Cruciform Parachutes”; with J. Papke, G. Peek, T. Hawthorne, E. Brighton and R. J. Benney; paper AIAA-2003-2160; 17thAIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar, Monterey, CA, May 19 -22, 2003; pp. 412 – 429.
• " New Model of Decelerating Bluff Body Drag ", with G. Peek and B. Brocato; Journal of Aircraft, 40, No. 2, pp. 370-377, 2003.
• “Accelerating Disk Drag: Theory and Applications”; Paper AIAA-2002-3055; 20th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 24 -26, 2002.
• "Deceleration Dynamics of Unreefed Cruciform and Flat Circular Parachutes During and After Inflation", with G. Peek, B. Brocato, R. Kutz, C. Manglano and B. Yavitz; AIAA Paper 2001, AIAA-2001-2028.
• "Inflation and Glide Studies of Slider-reefed Cruciform Parachutes"; with G. Peek, B. Brocato, T. Perschbacher, R. Kutz and R. Benney; AIAA Paper, AIAA-2001-2021.
• "More Scaling Laws for Ram-Air Parachute Inflation"; AIAA Paper, AIAA-2001-2072.
• "Altitude- and Weight Scaling Laws for Ram-Air Parachute Inflation". Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp.956-958, 2001.
• "Fluid-Structure Interactions of a Cross-Parachute: Numerical Simulation"; with R. Stein, R. Benney and T. Tezduyar. To appear in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering in 2001.
• "Modeling the Inflation of Ram-Air Parachutes Reefed with Sliders"; with B. Brocato and G. Peek . Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp.818-827, 2001.
• "Experimental Validation of the Ideal Parachute Model: A Status Report"; with B. Brocato and G. Peek; AIAA paper 1999, AIAA-99-1746.
• "The Improved Ideal Parachute Model and Its Application to the Study of Inflation Dydnamics of Slider-Reefed Ram-Air and Round Parachutes"; with T. Perschbacher; AIAA paper 1999, AIAA-99-1750.
• "In-Flight Study of Cell Pressurization Inside Inflating Smokejumper Ram-Air Parachutes; with G. Peek; AIAA paper 1999, AIAA-99-1756.
• "Experimental Study of Fluid-Structure Interactions on a Cross Parachute: Comparision of wind tunneldata and Drop Data with CFD Predictions"; with B. Brocato, L. Esteve, D. Garcia, C. Manglano, G. Peek, K. Stein, R. Benney, R. Alamat and J. Little; AIAA paper 1999, AIAA-99-1737.
• "Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulation of Cross Parachute: Comparison of Numerical Predictions with Wind Tunnel Data"; with Stein, K., Benney, R., Kalro, V., Tezduyar, and T., Bretl, T. ; AIAA paper 1999; AIAA-99-1725.
• "Wind Tunnel Study of Cruciform Parachutes Folded in Various Configurations"; with L. Esteve, G. Peek, R. Alamat and J. Little; AIAA paper 1999, AIAA-99-1739
• "A Simple Description of Airflow Characteristics Inside an Unfolding Parachute"; Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 809 - 818, 1999.
• "Parachute Inflation", 1998 McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology.
• "In-Flight Study of Pressure Differentials Near the Surfaces of an Inflating Ram-Air Parachute; AIAA paper 1998, AIAA-98-2529.
• "Testing a New Model of Ram-Air Parachute Inflation"; The Aeronautical Journal, Vol. 101, pp. 299-313,1997.
• "The Parks College Ram-Air Parachute Deployment Study: A Status Report"; with R. Montanez and G.E. Peek, AIAA paper 1997, AIAA-97-1426.
• "Wind Tunnel Investigation of Ram-Air Parachute Cell Pressurization" with R. Montanez and G.E. Peek, AIAA paper 1997, AIAA-97-1524.
• "Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Ram-Air Parachute Deployment Observable Variance", AIAA paper 1997, AIAA-97-1544.
• "Deployment Model for Slider-Reefed Ram-Air Parachutes", AIAA paper 1995, 95-1564.

Interesting Links

• For more information on the contents of some of these papers Click Here