Shock Analysis and Determination of Dynamical Properties of Hydro-pneumatic Shock Absorbers with the use of Experimental and Theoretical Methods

Hydro-pneumatic shock absorbers have applications in many diverse fields and finding characteristic of them are necessary in a succeful analysis and design. The aim of current study is two-fold. First, using drop test, dynamical properties (i.e. stiffness and damping) of hydro-pneumatic shock absorbers are experimentally found. In addition, formulas are derived which theoretically compute the stiffness and damping of this type of absorber. It is shown that theoretical and experimental results agree well. Second, with the suitable measurements, the shock response spectrum is plotted to determine the severity of the applied shock in the dropping process. This is an appropriate means in analysis and design of hydro-pneumatic shock absorbers. Using an experimental criterion, critical region of the applied shock is obtained. This study shows that drop test is an important technique in determining dynamical properties and shock severity of hydro-pneumatic shock absorbers, and it may be useful for practical tasks.