Experimental analysis of magnetorheological dampers for structural control

Abstract

The possibility of reducing structural response under strong external excitationssuch as earthquakes and wind storms via control systems is attracting the interestof a large number of researchers. In the field of civil structures, control systemsbased on semi-active devices seem to be close to feasible implementation.Semi-active devices are typically passive elements capable of self-adjusting theirown mechanical properties according to the instantaneous response of thehosting structure and, therefore, they can be considered as smart devices.Even though dampers based on magnetorheological fluids are consideredvery effective in practical implementations, the literature examining theirproperties from the structural control point of view is still quite limited.This paper aims to show the potential of such devices and to describetheir properties from this special perspective. These properties includemanufacturing issues, powering, range of variability of the mechanicalparameters, their dependence on the feed current and overall response time.