Damping characteristics and flow behaviors of an ER fluid with a piston sine vibration in a viscous damper

The damping characteristics and flow behaviors of ER fluids inside a piston–cylinder viscous damper subjected to external electric fields are studied based on experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The viscous damper is a closed system with an inner piston and an outer cylinder, which is designed and constructed in our laboratory. In the experiment, the test ER fluid is enclosed in the gap of a piston–cylinder system. To examine the damping characteristics of the test ER fluid, a piston sine vibration experiment is performed with accompanying theoretical analyses. In addition, in order to investigate the ER flow behaviors inside the damper, a numerical simulation is carried out. The present study discloses the damping characteristics and the fluid mechanism of the ER fluid in the piston–cylinder damper with an applied external electric field.