Energy absorption is an important challenge shared by multiple different industries including manufacturing, transportation, and protective equipment. This paper presents a novel shock absorption system based on woven fabrics designed to fully collapse and absorb energy at a near-minimum force level. The proposed system exerts an approximately constant force across different impact velocities. This system utilizes a fixed-orifice hydraulic shock absorber with variable contact area over its displacement to provide a nearly-constant force which scales with impact energy. Using analytical fluid dynamics, the contact area needed to produce a constant minimum force is derived. A finite element model of this shock absorber is created to validate the concept. Different impact conditions are simulated. The results confirm that the proposed fabric shock absorber is capable of producing a nearly-constant force across different impact energies. In simulation, the fabric shock absorber follows the ideal constant force profile with an averaged efficiency of 77.8% ± 3.4% which is far above standard foams which have efficiency of only approximately 20%–40%. The proposed system is compared with a cylindrical damper to show performance improvements gained through variable area geometry. Potential applications of this technology include soft devices for space-constrained applications such as contact sport helmets.

能量吸收是制造、运输和防护设备等多个不同行业共同面临的重要挑战。本文提出了一种基于机织织物的新型减震系统，旨在以接近最小的力水平完全折叠和吸收能量。所提出的系统在不同的冲击速度下施加近似恒定的力。该系统利用固定孔口液压减震器在其位移范围内具有可变接触面积，以提供几乎恒定的力，该力随冲击能量成比例。使用分析流体动力学，可以推导出产生恒定最小力所需的接触面积。创建该减震器的有限元模型以验证该概念。模拟不同的冲击条件。结果证实，所提出的织物减震器能够在不同的冲击能量下产生几乎恒定的力。在模拟中，织物减震器遵循理想的恒力曲线，平均效率为 77.8% ± 3.4%，远高于效率仅为约 20%–40% 的标准泡沫。将提议的系统与圆柱形阻尼器进行比较，以显示通过可变面积几何形状获得的性能改进。该技术的潜在应用包括用于空间受限应用的软设备，例如接触式运动头盔。4%，远高于效率仅为约 20%–40% 的标准泡沫。将提议的系统与圆柱形阻尼器进行比较，以显示通过可变面积几何形状获得的性能改进。该技术的潜在应用包括用于空间受限应用的软设备，例如接触式运动头盔。4%，远高于效率仅为约 20%–40% 的标准泡沫。将提议的系统与圆柱形阻尼器进行比较，以显示通过可变面积几何形状获得的性能改进。该技术的潜在应用包括用于空间受限应用的软设备，例如接触式运动头盔。