Design and verification of a magnetorheological elastomer-based actuator to reduce rotor vibration

The paper describes the design and testing of a new magnetorheological elastomer (MRE)-based actuator to reduce rotor vibrations. The core component of the actuator is a smart elastomer with the stiffness control through an external magnetic field; the support stiffness of the rotor can be adjusted to provide the suppression of the vibration when the rotor crosses the critical speed. We perform here a series of analysis related to the different functions of the components, the magnetic circuit and heat transfer to design the MRE actuator. A prototype of the MRE actuator has also been developed, and the generation of the magnetic field of the actuator and the rotor vibration suppression effect have been verified through experiments. The experimental results show that the MRE-based actuator provides a significant vibration reduction of the over-critical speed of the rotor when an external magnetic field is controlled via voltage.