Analysis and evaluation of an anti-shock seat with a multi-stage non-linear suspension for a tactical vehicle under a blast load

Abstract

Landmines and improvised explosive devices are serious threats to wheeled tactical vehicles. An anti-shock seat plays a key role in improving the anti-blast performance with respect to the safety of the occupants of the wheeled tactical vehicle, and the elastic and damping characteristics of the seat suspension are critical. A lumped-parameter model of the occupant–seat unit is set up and validated by vertical shock dynamics simulation. The responses of the occupant–seat system to the blast load are predicted for a seat suspension with initial linear elastic and damping characteristics, and the effects of the changes in the elastic and damping parameters of the suspension are studied. To achieve the compromise between the impact safety and the vibrational comfort of the occupant, the multi-stage non-linear elastic and damping characteristics of the seat suspension are investigated. Parametric optimization of the three-stage non-linear characteristics is conducted, and the results show a reduction in the peak acceleration of the pelvis by 11.7%. The correlation between the minimum response of the occupant and the minimum seat suspension stroke is revealed through multi-objective optimization.