Performance Evaluation of ER Shock Damper Subjected to Impulse Excitation

This paper presents shock responses of a cylindrical shock damper featuring an electrorheological (ER) fluid. An appropriate size of the ER shock damper is designed and manufactured on the basis of the field-dependent Bingham model of the ER fluid. The damping force of the ER shock damper is evaluated with respect to the excitation frequency at various electric fields. Subsequently, the ER shock damper is incorporated with a 1 degree-of-freedom (DOF) dynamic system in order to investigate shock responses. A skyhook controller is formulated to attenuate acceleration level due to impulse excitation and empirically realized. Controlled acceleration magnitudes are evaluated and compared with uncontrolled ones at various excitation frequencies.