Design and Optimization of Hydraulic Buffer for a Sniper Grenade Launcher

Here, the optimal design of the hydraulic buffer is studied to reduce the recoil force of a sniper grenade launcher. According to the structural characteristics of the weapon, the installation scheme and size limitation of the hydraulic buffer are analyzed and calculated. The mathematical model of the hydraulic buffer is established, and the Runge-Kutta method is used. An optimization model is established based on design variables of the size and spacing of flow hole as well as objective values of buffer efficiency and effect. Moreover, the optimization model is obtained by a particle swarm optimization algorithm. The dynamic simulation and shooting test of the optimized scheme are conducted. The influence of hydraulic buffer on the movement of weapon components and its cushioning effect is compared with the original weapon. The results show that the hydraulic buffer can absorb some recoil energy of the automatic mechanism and reduce the peak velocity of each component. The peak recoil force and impulse of the weapon are reduced by 21.0% and 6.5%, respectively. The recoil impact of the weapon is effectively reduced by installing a hydraulic buffer.