Electrorheological damper analysis using an Eyring-plastic model

Abstract

This paper presents experimental and theoretical analysis of an electrorheological (ER)damper. To describe practical damper characteristics of force versus velocity and forceversus displacement response to sinusoidal displacement inputs, an Eyring model isproposed. On the basis of an Eyring rheological model, an Eyring-plastic model isconstructed by combination of simple nonlinear functions. Therefore, the Eyring-plasticmodel has the advantage of simple design and formulation, even though it is in the form ofa nonlinear function. In addition, the Eyring-plastic model can capture practical damperresponses quite well, particularly in both the pre-yield and the post-yield states. AnER damper is configured and its damping force under various electric fields andexcitation frequencies is experimentally tested. On the basis of the damper responsetested, the Eyring-plastic model is constructed and its validation is proved bycomparing the predicted damper results with the experimental data for forceversus sinusoidal velocity and force versus sinusoidal displacement responses.