Semi-active vibration isolation design using magnetorheological damper

The use of magnetorheological dampers for structure vibration mitigation has been largely considered due to the semi-active nature of their control. While the ability to deliver high-performance with a limited power supply is attractive, it is imperative that the controls are properly developed under various excitation frequencies. However, because the desired control force may not directly be commanded to the magnetorheological damper, the employment of a secondary control to dictate the voltage applied to the damper is necessary. This proves further challenging due to the inability to invert the most accurate damper mathematical models. This research focuses on the assessment of multiple controller designs, including LQR and Skyhook, to determine their effectiveness under a wide range of excitation frequencies. The influence of limited sensing information is also analyzed through case studies.