Analysis and tests of magnetorheological adaptive shock mitigation systems

Minimizing the impact load transmitted to the sensitive structures or human bodies is one of the major areas of interest within the field of shock absorption. The key to the adaptive shock mitigation systems based on magnetorheological energy absorbers (MREAs) to minimize the impact load is to make full use of the MREA piston stroke to achieve the control goal of “softlanding”. The essence would be the accurate description of the nonlinear hysteresis force of MREAs. In this work, with the mentioned objectives, a shock mitigation control algorithm for MREA-based drop-induced shock mitigation system is theoretically and experimentally studied. Dynamic responses of the MREA under the drop-induced shock excitation are analyzed and tested to evaluate the control strategies and nonlinear models of the MREA.