A Shock Mitigation Control Method Using Magnetorheological Energy Absorbers Considering a Time Lag

Purpose For the drop-induced shock mitigation system with magnetorheological energy absorbers (MREAs), the time lag of MREA has a nonnegligible influence on the shock mitigation performance. This paper proposed a minimum transmitted load control method considering time lag (MTL-T) is proposed. Methods First, the influence of a time lag on the shock mitigation performance is analyzed, and the relationship between the theoretical controllable force and the actual controllable force of the MREA with a time lag is given. Then, taking the controllable force of traditional MTL control method as the theoretical value and the “soft-landing” as the control target, the control algorithm of MTL-T control method is derived. Finally, the simulation is conducted for the shock mitigation system with variable parameters controlled by MTL-T, and the comparative performance of MTL-T control method and other methods is given. Results The theoretical analysis shows that MTL-T control method can make the shock mitigation system with a time lag achieve the control target of “soft-landing”. The advantages of MTL-T control method are shown by the comparative performance of the MTL-T control method and other methods. Conclusions Once the parameters of the system and the impact intensity are obtained, the MTL-T can be determined. The adaptability of MTL-T control method is verified. Compared with other control method, the MTL-T has a small peak transmitted load while making full use of MREA.