Title: A compressible magneto-rheological fluid damper-liquid spring system

Authors: Mutyala Rao Potnuru; Xiaojie Wang; Sreeram Mantripragada; Faramarz Gordaninejad

Addresses: Composite and Intelligent Materials Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA ' Composite and Intelligent Materials Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA ' Composite and Intelligent Materials Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA ' Composite and Intelligent Materials Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA

Abstract: In this study, a compressible magneto-rheological fluid damper-liquid spring (CMRFD-LS) system is designed, built and tested. The CMRFD-LS functions as a liquid spring and a controllable fluid damper in a single unit. The CMRFD-LS system has a Magneto-Rheolgical (MR) valve with tapered annular flow channel. The flow profile and pressure drops due to varying cross sections of the flow path under different applied magnetic fields are studied. To evaluate the spring effect, experiments are carried out using pure silicone oil under different input displacements and frequencies. The spring effect of the liquid spring and the energy dissipated due to damping are obtained from the performance tests conducted with MR fluid, which is composed of 80% (wt.) iron particles suspended in silicone oil. The equivalent spring coefficient, equivalent damping coefficients and energy dissipated for different sinusoidal input displacements at different motion frequencies and applied electric currents are determined from these force-displacement loops of experimental results. The effect of the tapered flow path on the pressure drops for compression and rebound is investigated.

Keywords: compressible fluid springs; magnetorheological fluid flow; MR dampers; MR fluids; liquid spring systems; semi-active damping; iron particles; silicone oil; force displacement; vehicle suspension systems; off-road vehicles; large payloads.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2013.056155

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2013 Vol.63 No.2/3, pp.256 - 274

Received: 14 Dec 2011
Accepted: 10 Oct 2012
Published online: 16 Oct 2014 *

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