A mathematical modelling and experimental study of annular-radial type magnetorheological damper

An experimental study was undertaken to evaluate the mathematical modelling of the magnetorheological (MR) damper featuring annular radial gap on its valve. The experiment was conducted using a fatigue dynamic test machine under particular excitation frequency and amplitude to get force-velocity and force-displament characteristics. Meanwhile, the mathematical modelling was done using quasi-steady modelling approach. Simulation using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference (ANFIS) Algorithm (Gaussian and Generalized Bell) were also carried out to portray the damping force-displacement modelling that is used to compare with the experimental results. The experimental characteristics show that amplitudes excitation and current input affect the result damping force value. The comparison of the experimental and mathematical results presented in this paper shows a significant difference in damping force value and that the quasi-steady modelling could not significantly approach the damping force-velocity results. Moreover, the semi-active damper is compared to the passive damper. The results show that a semi-active damper performs better than a passive damper because it only requires a little power. Based on the damping force-displacement modelling, it can be seen that Gaussian has a higher accuracy rather than Generalized Bell. Discussion on the energy dissipation and equivalent damping coefficient were also accomodated in this paper. Having completed in mathematical modelling and simulation, the damper would be ready for further work in-vehicle application that is development of control system.