CFD Study of the Flow in a Radial Electrorheological Fluid Clutch

Incorporation of electrorheological (ER) fluid properties within a general, but comprehensive design procedure is initiated by the adoption of a Bingham power law constitutive law into a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis. CFD results are presented for the analysis of the complex flow of an electrorheological fluid in a radial shear clutch device under the influence of electric field. In such a device the fluid is sheared between a driven (rotating) and a parallel stationary shear plate. The ER fluid is modeled using a technique which can be employed for any fluid/field characterization. It is shown that the initial flow rate induced cooling cannot be maintained when a substantial field is applied and the clutch plates continue to slip.