A smart elastomer-based shock and vibration mitigation mount with an active shock and vibration control system (ASVCS) for a 20-inch sub-scale vertical support group (VSG) was designed and tested. The adaptive VSG mount utilizes magnetorheological elastomers (MREs). MREs are a class of smart materials that can vary its stiffness upon application of a closed-loop magnetic field. The MRE-VSG mount is equipped with instrumentation that senses the acceleration levels of the canister and the missile. A control algorithm was developed for ASVCS to detect both shock and vibration events and to adjust the MRE-VSG properties, accordingly, to mitigate the event. The controller adjusts the electrical current supplied to the MRE-VSG to change the stiffness of the mount in response to shock or vibration event. The MRE-VSG can shift the natural frequency of the system, providing optimized protection of the missile from external loads. The mount is designed to be fail-safe, i.e., in the case of a power supply interruption, the elastomers still provide a passive base stiffness to protect the payload. The properties of the mount were characterized in laboratory environment, and the mounts were subjected to operational system requirement testing, such as shock and vibration mitigation performance, operational and extreme temperature levels, operational and extreme pressure levels, and submerged underwater testing. The adaptive mount passed all system requirement tests.
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