Physical modeling and design method of the hysteretic behavior of magnetorheological dampers

This study aims to get a deep insight of the inherent hysteresis behavior of magnetorheological fluid dampers and to develop the method of designing such hysteresis. Taking into account the compressibility of magnetorheological fluid, a physical model of magnetorheological dampers is developed by establishing the flow rate equations for two chambers. The model is validated by a set of the experimental data from a literature. As a special case of the proposed physical model, a lumped parameter physical model which can explain the hysteresis in a more straightforward way is derived and validated too. The fact that the viscous force can be ignored compared to the Coulomb force reduces the lumped parameter physical model to its simplest form, that is, a friction element representing the Coulomb force is connected in series with a spring element representing the compressibility of fluid. It is this simple two-element physical model that captures the essence of the hysteresis behavior, on the basis of which, the mechanism of the hysteresis generation is explored in great detail, and the formula is also derived for calculating the hysteresis width. Finally, the design method of the hysteresis behavior is illustrated by a specific example.