Application of computational fluid dynamics in design of viscous dampers-CFD modeling and full-scale dynamic testing

Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)provides a powerful tool for investigating complicated fluid flows.This paper aims to study the applicability of CFD in the preliminary design of linear and nonlinear fluid viscous dampers.Two fluid viscous dampers were designed based on CFD models.The first device was a linear viscous damper with straight orifices.The second was a nonlinear viscous damper containing a one-way pressure-responsive valve inside its orifices.Both dampers were detailed based on CFD simulations,and their internal fluid flows were investigated.Full-scale specimens of both dampers were manufactured and tested under dynamic loads.According to the tests results,both dampers demonstrate stable cyclic behaviors,and as expected,the nonlinear damper generally tends to dissipate more energy compared to its linear counterpart.Good compatibility was achieved between the experimentally measured damper force-velocity curves and those estimated from CFD analyses.Using a thermography camera,a rise in temperature of the dampers was measured during the tests.It was found that output force of the manufactured devices was virtually independent of temperature even during long duration loadings.Accordingly,temperature dependence can be ignored in CFD models,because a reliable temperature compensator mechanism was used(or intended to be used)by the damper manufacturer.

Novel magneto-rheological fluid damper for passive force/torque feedback

The damper is capable of providing a continuously variable dampering force/torque in response to a magnetic field. It consists of an upside cap and an underside cap with a rotor located between them, the magneto-rheological （MR） fluid is filled into the gaps between the rotor and the caps. When the viscosity of the MR fluid increases under the influence of the magnetic field, the movement of the rotor will be resisted. The output torque is made up of the torque caused by the magnetic field, the torque caused by the plastic viscosity of the MR fluid, and the torque caused by the coulomb friction. The viscous torque can be calculated by a simple method and the frictional torque can be obtained by experiments. The torque dependent on the magnetic field is obtained by electromagnetic finite dement analysis. Experiments are done on the damper prototype and the validity of the design is verified.

Skyhook-based Semi-active Control of Full-vehicle Suspension with Magneto-rheological Dampers

The control study of vehicle semi-active suspension with magneto-rheological (MR) dampers has been attracted much attention internationally. However, a simple, real time and easy implementing semi-active controller has not been proposed for the MR full-vehicle suspension system, and a systematic analysis method has not been established for evaluating the multi-objective suspension performances of MR full-vehicle vertical, pitch and roll motions. For this purpose, according to the 7-degree of freedom (DOF) fullvehicle dynamic system, a generalized 7-DOF MR and passive full-vehicle dynamic model is set up by employing the modified Boucwen hysteretic force-velocity (F-v) model of the MR damper. A semi-active controller is synthesized to realize independent control of the four MR quarter-vehicle sub-suspension systems in the full-vehicle, which is on the basis of the proposed modified skyhook damping scheme of MR quarter-vehicle sub-suspension system. The proposed controller can greatly simplify the controller design complexity of MR full-vehicle suspension and has merits of easy implementation in real application, wherein only absolute velocities of sprung and unsprung masses with reference to the road surface are required to measure in real time when the vehicle is moving. Furthermore, a systematic analysis method is established for evaluating the vertical, pitch and roll motion properties of both MR and passive full-vehicle suspensions in a more realistic road excitation manner, in which the harmonic, rounded pulse and real road measured random signals with delay time are employed as different road excitations inserted on the front and rear two wheels, by considering the distance between front and rear wheels in full-vehicle. The above excitations with different amplitudes are further employed as the road excitations inserted on left and right two wheels for evaluating the roll motion property. The multi-objective suspension performances of ride comfort and handling safety of the proposed MR full-vehicle suspension are thus thoroughly evaluated by comparing with those of the passive full-vehicle suspension. The results show that the proposed controller can ideally improve multiobjective suspension performances of the ride comfort and handling safety. The proposed harmonic, rounded pulse and real road measured random signals with delay time and asymmetric amplitudes are suitable for accurately analyzing the vertical, pitch and roll motion properties of MR full-vehicle suspension system in a more realistic road excitation manner. This research has important theoretical significance for improving application study on the intelligent MR semi-active suspension.

SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUSPENSION WITH MAGNETO-RHEOLOGICAL DAMPERS:PART Ⅰ——CONTROLLER SYNTHESIS AND EVALUATION

A modified skyhook-based semi-active controller is proposed for implementing an asymmetric control suspension design with symmetric magneto-rheological （MR） dampers. The controller is formulated in current form, which is modulated by integrating a continuous modulation and an asymmetric damping force generation algorithms, so as to effectively minimize switching and hysteretic effects from the MR-damper. The proposed controller is implemented with a quarter-vehicle MR-suspension model, and its relative response characteristics are thus evaluated in terms of defined performance measures under varying amplitude harmonic, rounded pulse and random excitations. The sensitivity of the semi-active suspension performance to variations in controller parameters is thoroughly evaluated. The results illustrate that the proposed skyhook-based asymmetric semi-active MR-suspension controller has superior robustness on the system parameter variations, and can achieve desirable multi-objective suspension performance.

SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUSPENSION WITH MAGNETO-RHEOLOGICAL DAMPERS PARTⅡ——EVALUATION OF SUSPENSION PERFORMANCE

The design and analysis of an intelligent vehicle suspension with MR dampers should address hybrid semi-active control goals, such as rejection of current-switching discontinuity and MR-damper hysteresis, asymmetric damping from the symmetric MR-damper design, robustness on the vehicle operation parameter uncertainties and consideration of essential multiple suspension goals. Following the proposed skyhook-based asymmetric semi-active controller （Part I ） for achieving the above goals, herein, a set of suspension performance measures and three kinds of varying amplitude harmonic, rounded pulse and really measured random excitations are systematically defined, and the sensitivity of quarter-vehicle MR-suspension performance to variations in operating conditions is thoroughly analyzed. The results illustrate that the proposed skyhook-based semi-active MR-suspension in the asymmetric mode yields relatively superior dynamic responses to meet the multiple suspension performances of ride, rattle space, road-holding and dynamic tire force transmitted to the pavement, and has desirable robustness on variations in operating conditions of vehicle load and speed and the road roughness.

SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUSPENSION WITH MAGNETO-RHEOLOGICAL DAMPERS:PART III—EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

A hardware-in-the-loop （HIL） test and simulation platform is developed in the laboratory, so as to validate the performance characteristics of the proposed skyhook-based asymmetric semi-active controller in Part I, and examine the validity of the proposed MR-damper model in a system surrounding. A real-time monitor is designed to assess and monitor the responses of the quarter-vehicle model in the HIL platform, and to select the excitation, controller synthesis, and the output displays. A drive current circuit hardware employing PID feedback technique is developed to compensate for the time delays from the servo-controller and drive current circuit, in which a small resistance is integrated in the current amplifier circuit to provide the feedback signal. The experiments were performed to measure the responses of the quarter-vehicle MR-suspension models with fixed current and the proposed semi-active MR-damping variations, under harmonic, rounded pulse and random road excitations. The measured data were compared with the corresponding model results to examine the model and controller validity, and revealed generally good agreements in the model and tested results and very little sensitivity of the tested responses to variations in the sprung mass. The HIL test results validate the effectiveness of the proposed skyhook-based semi-active asymmetric controller and its high robustness against the vehicle load variations in view of the intelligent vehicle suspension design.

Properties of magneto-rheological fluids based on amorphous micro-particles

To improve the magneto-rheological (MR) properties of magneto-rheological fluids, self-made amorphous alloy particles, the composition of which was Fe76Cr2Mo2Sn2P10B2C2Si4, were used as the disperse phase to replace traditional carbonyl iron (CI) particles to prepare amorphous based magneto-rheological fluid (AMRF). Soft magnetic properties and densities of the amorphous particles and the CI particles were tested and compared. The results indicate the amorphous particles present a lower density but larger magnetization intensity and larger permeability at lower field levels. Properties of the AMRF with 20% particles in volume fraction were tested and compared with the CI based MR fluid (CMRF). The AMRF presents a saturation yield stress of 41 kPa at ~227 kA/m and a sedimentation ratio of 80%. The results indicate the magneto-rheological fluid based on amorphous micro-particles has better MR properties and sedimentation stability than that based on CI particles at lower field levels (0-200 kA/m).

Semi-active Sliding Mode Control of Vehicle Suspension with Magneto-rheological Damper

The vehicle semi-active suspension with magneto-theological damper（MRD） has been a hot topic since this decade, in which the robust control synthesis considering load variation is a challenging task. In this paper, a new semi-active controller based upon the inverse model and sliding mode control （SMC） strategies is proposed for the quarter-vehicle suspension with the magneto-rheological （MR） damper, wherein an ideal skyhook suspension is employed as the control reference model and the vehicle sprung mass is considered as an uncertain parameter. According to the asymptotical stability of SMC, the dynamic errors between the plant and reference systems are used to derive the control damping force acquired by the MR quarter-vehicle suspension system. The proposed modified Bouc-wen hysteretic force-velocity （F-v） model and its inverse model of MR damper, as well as the proposed continuous modulation （CM） filtering algorithm without phase shift are employed to convert the control damping force into the direct drive current of the MR damper. Moreover, the proposed semi-active sliding mode controller （SSMC）-based MR quarter-vehicle suspension is systematically evaluated through comparing the time and frequency domain responses of the sprung and unsprung mass displacement accelerations, suspension travel and the tire dynamic force with those of the passive quarter-vehicle suspension, under three kinds of varied amplitude harmonic, rounded pulse and real-road measured random excitations. The evaluation results illustrate that the proposed SSMC can greatly suppress the vehicle suspension vibration due to uncertainty of the load, and thus improve the ride comfort and handling safety. The study establishes a solid theoretical foundation as the universal control scheme for the adaptive semi-active control of the MR full-vehicle suspension decoupled into four MR quarter-vehicle sub-suspension systems.

The Knee Joint Design and Control of Above-knee Intelligent Bionic Leg Based on Magneto-rheological Damper

The above-knee intelligent bionic leg is very helpful to amputees in the area of rehabilitation medicine. This paper first introduces the functional demand of the above-knee prosthesis design. Then, the advantages of the four-bar link mechanism and the magneto-rheological （MR） damper are analyzed in detail. The fixed position of the MR damper is optimized and a virtual prototype of knee joint is given. In the end, the system model of kinematics, dynamics, and controller are given and a control experiment is performed. The control experiment indicates that the intelligent bionic leg with multi-axis knee is able to realize gait tracking of the amputee＇s healthy leg based on semi-active control of the MR damper.

A disc-type magneto-rheologic fluid damper

A disc-type magneto-rheological fluid damper operating in shear mode is proposed in this paper,which is based on the special characteristics of the magneto-rheological (MR) fluid with rapid, reversible and dramatic change in its rheological properties by the application of an external magnetic field. The magneticfield of the disc-type MR fluid damper is analysed by the finite element method ; the controllability of the disctype MR fluid damper on the dynamic behaviour of a rotor system ; and the effectiveness of the disc-type MR fluid damper in controlling the vibration of a rotor system, are studied in a flexible rotor system with an over-hung disc. It is shown that the magnetic flux density of the disc-type MR fluid damper in the working areas can significantly change with the applied current in the coil ; and that the dynamic behavior of the disc-type MR fluid damper can be varied by the application of an external magnetic field produced by a low voltage electromagnetic coil. The disc-type MR fluid damper can significantly change the dynamic characteristics of a rotor system, provided that the location of the disk-type MR fluid damper is carefully chosen. The disc-type MR fluid damper is a new actuator with good dynamic characteristics for rotating machinery.

Optimizing control of a two-span rotor system with magnetorheological fluid dampers

A control system aims at vibration reduction in a two-span rotor system with two shear mode magnetorheological （MRF） dampers is designed. A finite element model of the MRF damper- rotor system is built and used to analyze the rotor vibration characteristics. Based on Hooke and Jeeves algorithm and the numerical simulation analysis, an optimal appropriate controller is proposed and designed. Experimental results show that rotor vibration caused by unbalance is well controlled （ first critical speed region 37% , second critical speed region 42% ）. To reflect advantages of optimi- zing strategy presented and validate the intelligent optimization control technology, detailed experi- ments were developed on a two-span rotor-vibration-control platform. The influence on accuracy, rapidity and stability of optimizing control for rotor vibration are analyzed. It provides a powerful technical support for the extension and application in target and control for shafting vibration.

Performance of viscous fluid dampers coupling adjacent inelastic structures under near-fault earthquakes

The behavior of viscous fluid damper applied in coupling structures subjected to near-fault earthquake was studied.The structural nonlinearity was characterized by Bouc-Wen model and several near-fault ground motions were simulated by the combination of a recorded earthquake(background ground motion) with equivalent velocity pulses that possess near-fault features.Extensive parametric studies were carried out to find the appropriate damping coefficient.Performances of viscous fluid dampers were demonstrated by the relationship between the force and displacement,the maximal damper force and stroke.The control performances were demonstrated in terms of the response reductions of adjacent structures.The results show that the dynamic responses of adjacent structures are mitigated greatly.Proper damping coefficients of connecting fluid dampers have a small difference,while adjacent structures under different near-fault ground motions with the same peak acceleration.The maximum force of damper is about 0.8 MN,and the maximum damper stroke is about ±550 mm.Satisfied viscous fluid dampers can be produced according to the current manufacturing skills.

Improving the seismic torsional behavior of plan-asymmetric,single-storey,concrete moment resisting buildings with fluid viscous dampers

The optimal distribution of fluid viscous dampers（FVD）in controlling the seismic response of eccentric,single-storey,moment resisting concrete structures is investigated using the previously defined center of damping constant（CDC）.For this purpose,a number of structural models with different one-way stiffness and strength eccentricities are considered.Extensive nonlinear time history analyses are carried out for various arrangements of FVDs.It is shown that the arrangement of FVDs for controlling the torsional behavior due to asymmetry in the concrete structures is very dependent on the intensity of the peak ground acceleration（PGA）and the extent of the structural stiffness and strength eccentricities.The results indicate that,in the linear range of structural behavior the stiffness eccentricity es which is the main parameter in determining the location of optimal CDC,is found to be less or smaller than the optimal damping constant eccentricity e＊d,i.e.,｜e＊d｜ 〉 ｜es｜.But,in the nonlinear range of structural behavior where the strength eccentricity er is the dominant factor in determining the location of optimal CDC,｜e＊d｜ 〉 ｜er｜.It is also concluded that for the majority of the plan-asymmetric,concrete structures considered in this study with er ≠ 0,the optimal CDC approaches the center of mass as er decreases.

Reciprocating friction characteristics of magneto-rheological fluid for aluminum under magnetic field

Reciprocating friction characteristics of magneto-rheological （MR） fluid for aluminum under a magnetic field at different loads and oscillation frequencies were studied when MR fluids were worked in reciprocating motions such as in dampers for automobiles, and surface polishing and other finishing. Thus, experiments were carried out to evaluate the reciprocating friction characteristic of MR fluid for aluminum. The obtained data from the tests are sorted in groups depending on various loads and oscillation frequencies, to analyze the relationship between test condition and travel cycle. Surfaces of specimens were compared by measuring the surface roughness and observing the surface images. The performance of reciprocating friction characteristics of MR fluid for aluminum is evaluated through analyzing the experiment results.

Semi-active control of a vehicle suspension using magneto-rheological damper

A semi-active magneto-rheological （MR） damper was experimentally investigated and compared to an original equipment manufacturer （OEM） damper for a passenger vehicle, by using a quarter car models. A full-scale two-degree-of-freedom quarter car experimental set-up was constructed to study the vehicle suspension. On-off skyhook controller and Fuzzy-Lyapunov skyhook controller （FLSC） were employed to control the input current for MR damper so as to achieve the desired damping force. Tests were done to evaluate the ability of MR damper for controlling vehicle vibration. Test results show that the semi-active MR vehicle suspension vibration control system is feasible. In comparison with OEM damper, on-off and FLSC controlled MR dampers can effectively reduce the acceleration of vehicle sprtmg mass by about 15% and 24%, respectively.

Experimental Studies on High-Frequency Performance of the Inverse Control Magneto-Rheological Damper

Severe vibration of underground structures may be induced under blast loads. According to the characteristics of the explosion-induced ground shock wave, a new-type damper, inverse control magneto-rheological（MR） damper was designed to control the vibration, The high-frequency performance test of the MR damper was carried out on the small shaking table. It is shown that the performance can be modeled by use of the modified Bouc-Wen model, and the Parameters of the model keep stable in the range of 15--50 Hz.

Optimizing Control for Rotor Vibration with Magnetorheological Fluid Damper

The aim of this work is to analyze and design a control system for vibration reduction in a rotor system using a shear mode magnetorheological fluid(MRF)damper.A dynamic model of the MRF damper-rotor system was built and simulated in Matlab/Simulink to analyze the rotor vibration characteristics and the vibration reduction effect of the MRF damper.Based on the numerical simulation analysis,an optimizing control strategy using pattern search method was proposed and designed.The control system was constructed on a test rotor bench and experiment validations on the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy were conducted.Experimental results show that rotor vibration caused by unbalance can be well controlled whether in resonance region(70%)or in non-resonance region(30%).An irregular vibration amplitude jump can be suppressed with the optimization strategy.Furthermore,it is found that the rapidity of transient response and efficiency of optimizing technique depend on the pattern search step.The presented strategies and control system can be extended to multi-span(more than two or three spans)rotor system.It provides a powerful technical support for the extension and application in target and control for shafting vibration.

GENERATION OF ASYMMETRIC F-v CHARACTERISTICS FOR SYMMETRIC MR DAMPERS

An asymmetric damping force generation algorithm is originally proposed to yield the asymmetric force-velocity characteristics for the symmetric magneto-rheological （MR） dampers. The command current is formulated in an asymmetric manner to excite the symmetric MR dampers by employing the “on-off” control law in response to the direction of velocity, and a smooth modulation function is developed without phase shift to suppress strong transients in the damping forces caused by the current-switching discontinuity. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by analyzing the dynamic responses of a quarter-vehicle suspension system with a symmetric MR-damper by modulating the command current into the asymmetric manner. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm could achieve a better compromise between the conflicting requirements of the asymmetric damping force ratio and the force-velocity curve smoothness, and the asymmetric damping MR-suspension design can ideally improve the road holding and ride performances of vehicle motion. The proposed algorithm can be generally incorporated with a controller synthesis to realize an intelligent vehicle suspension design with the symmetric MR dampers.

THEORY AND EXPERIMENT ON THE VISCOUS HEATING OF FLUID DAMPER UNDER SHOCK ENVIRONMENT

A specially designed fluid damper used as negative shock pulse generator in the shock resistance test system to dissipate the shock input energy in transient time duration is presented. The theoretical modeling based on the three-dimensional equation of heat transfer through a fluid element is created to predict the viscous heating in the fluid damper under shock conditions. A comprehensive experimental program that investigates the problem of viscous heating in the fluid damper under different shock conditions is conducted on the shock test machine to validate the analytical expression. Temperature histories for the fluid within the damper at two locations, the annular-oriflce and the-end-of stroke of the damper, are recorded. The experimental results show that the theoretical model can offer a very dependable prediction for the temperature histories in the damper for increasing input velocity. The theoretical model and experimental data both clearly indicate that the viscous heating in the damper is directly related to the maximum shock velocity input and the pressure between the two sides of the piston head.

Dynamic Analysis Model of Embedded Fluid Elastomeric Damper for Bearingless Rotor

According to the structural characteristics of embedded fluid elastomeric damper and dynamic modeling method of bearingless rotor(BR)system,a time-domain dynamic model based on multilayer elastomeric theory and fluid dynamic equations is developed.The parameters contained in the analysis model are identified by dynamic experiment data of embedded fluid elastomeric damper.The dynamic characteristics curves calculated through dynamic model are compared with those derived from experimental data.The consistent results illustrate that the model can describe the nonlinear relationship between stress and strain of embedded fluid elastomeric damper under different displacement amplitude and frequency.Due to the validity and reliability of the dynamic analysis model,it can be used in aeroelastic characteristics calculation of BR with embedded fluid elastomeric damper for helicopters.