Dynamic performance evaluation of a magnetorheological damper-based sting support in wind tunnel tests

Abstract

The sting support faces an issue of being prone to resonance due to its low-damping characteristics, which will compromise the accuracy of test data in wind tunnel experiments. Magnetorheological damper (MRD)-based tail support (MRSS) features varying stiffness and damping abilities, enabling it to suppress the vibration with random, time-variation characteristics in a self-adaptive way, and it also exhibits excellent fail–safe properties. This work aims to validate its controllability and fail–safe property in a wind tunnel environment. First, the natural frequency, root mean square (RMS), and power spectral density (PSD) of the designed MRSS’ response for random excitation were theoretically analyzed. Then, wind tunnel experiments were conducted to test the response under different attack angles, wind speeds, and test currents. Subsequently, the controllability and fail–safe property were demonstrated by analyzing the aircraft model response. Also, the variable stiffness and damping properties of MRD behind the observed phenomena were revealed based on the theoretical analysis. Results demonstrate that as the input current increases and the MRD’s stiffness continues to increase, the damping initially increases and then decreases. Increasing wind speed leads to a decrease in the MRD’s stiffness. Additionally, approximately 50% reduction in RMS and a multi-modal response attenuation was achieved.