Shock and vibration control systems using a self-sensing magnetorheological damper

The theoretical analysis and the prototype testing of the integrated relative displacement self-sensing magnetorheological damper (IRDSMRD) indicate that the controllable damping force performance and the relative displacement sensing performance influence each other for varying applied currents. Aiming at verifying the feasibility and capability of the IRDSMRD to constitute semi-active shock and vibration control systems, this study presents a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) shock and vibration control system based on the IRDSMRD. The mathematical model of the IRDSMRD, including the control damping force and the linearity of the integrated relative displacement sensor (IRDS), is established, and the governing equation for the SDOF system based on the IRDSMRD is derived. A skyhook control algorithm is utilized to improve the shock and vibration control performance of the SDOF semi-active control systems. The simulated control performances of the SDOF systems individually using the IRDSMRD without any extra-set dynamic sensor, the conventional MR damper with a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT), and the passive damper, under shock loads due to vertical pulses (the maximum initial velocity is as high as 10 m/s), and sinusoidal vibrations with a frequency range of 0-25 Hz, are evaluated, compared, and analyzed.