Abstract: Subject to the limitations of the traditional design method based on the experiments on the earth to solve the problem of the optimization design for omni-directional multi-chamber airbag for landing on Mars, a systemic methodology by jointly integrating the finite element simulation, experiment and multi-objective optimization method is used to optimize the airbag system. In the process of the optimization design, the finite element model which can simulate the landing process of the omni-directional multi-chamber airbag with the wrapped Mars lander is built. And then the impact physical experiments on the earth are implemented to validate the accuracy of the finite element model. Based on the results of finite element simulations, some polynomial metamodels of the objective function are obtained. According to these models, the airbag system is optimized by adopting multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm, and the optimized results show the obvious improvements of the lightweight and the specific energy absorption (SEA). The proposed method has a great significance for the design of omni-directional multi-chamber airbag for landing on Mars or other similar equipment.

Key words: airbag, crashworthiness, cushion, Mars lander, multi-objective optimization