Theoretical and Experimental Research on an Optimal Control for a Magnetorheological Shock Mitigation System

Vibration and shock control systems are of vital importance to modern vehicles when incorporating crashworthiness goals and enhancing occupant safety to protect avionics or electronics during survivable crash events. The study proposes a method denoted as the optimal generalized Bingham number (GBN) control to improve the soft-landing control accuracy of a drop-induced shock mitigation system employing a magnetorheological shock absorber (MREA). Based on the theoretical and experimental analysis of the damping force characteristics of the MREA, the dynamics of a single-degree-of-freedom shock mitigation system are established, and the GBN is defined with consideration of quadratic damping. The optimal GBN control strategy for a magnetorheological shock mitigation system is proposed to achieve a soft landing. The deceleration, velocity, and displacement formulas of the payload are derived, and the dynamic response of the magnetorheological shock mitigation system, under different GBNs, is analyzed. In terms of soft-landing control accuracy, it is shown that the optimal GBN control strategy performs better for a linear stroke MREA when the control algorithm is based on quadratic damping rather than linear damping.