Design and testing of a magnetorheological damper to control both vibration and shock loads for a vehicle crew seat

Abstract

A magnetorheological shock absorber (MRSA) prototype is designed, fabricated and tested to integrate semiactive shock and vibration mitigation technology into the existing Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) forward seating positions. Utilizing Bingham-Plastic (BP) constitutive fluid relationships and a steady state fluid flow model, the MR valve parameters are determined using magnetic circuit analysis, and subsequently validated via electromagnetic finite element analysis (FEA). Low speed (up to 0.9 m/s) simulations of normal vibration mode operation are conducted on the MRSA prototype using single frequency sinusoidal displacements by a servohydraulic testing machine. The high speed (up to 2.2 m/s) design procedure is verified by using a rail-guided drop test stand to impact a known payload mass onto the damper shaft. A refined hydromechanical model of the MRSA under both cyclic and impact loadings is developed and validated using the measured test data. This ratedependent, mechanisms-based model predicts the time response of the MRSA under both loading conditions. The hydromechanical analysis marks a significant improvement over previous linear models. Key design considerations for the MRSA to accommodate both vibration and shock spectra using a single MR device are presented.