Quasi-Steady Axisymmetric Bingham-Plastic Model of Magnetorheological Flow Damper Behavior

Abstract

A typical magnetorheological (MR) flow mode damper consists of a piston attached to a shaft that travels in a tightly fitting hydraulic cylinder. The piston motion makes fluid flow through an annular valve in the MR damper. An electro-magnet applies magnetic field to the MR fluid as it flows through the MR valve, and changes its yield stress. An MR fluid, modeled as a Bingham-plastic material, is characterized by a field dependent yield stress, and a (nearly constant) postyield plastic viscosity. Although the analysis of such an annular MR valve is well understood, a closed form solution for the damping capacity of a damper using such an MR valve has proven to be elusive. Closed form solutions for the velocity and shear stress profile across the annular gap are well known. However, the location of the plug must be computed numerically. As a result, closed form solutions for the dynamic range (ratio of field on to field off damper force) cannot be derived. Instead of this conventional theoretic procedure, an approximated closed form solution for a dampers dynamic range, damping capacity and other key performance metrics is derived. And the approximated solution is used to validate a rectangular duct simplified analysis of MR valves for small gap condition. These approximated equations are derived, and the approximation error is also provided.