MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Abstract
In this paper,a brief introduction to vehicle primary suspension system is presented along with numerical analysis of a semiactive suspension system with MR damper is presented. In an automotive system, the vehicle suspension usually contributes to the vehicle's handling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure and keeps the vehicle occupants comfortable and reasonably well isolated from road noise, bumps and vibrations.Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Isolation from the forces transmitted by external excitation is the fundamental task of any suspension system. Time response sprungmass is analyzed for a half car model. Simulation results shows MR damper based semi-active suspension system reduces both the peak values and RMS values of vertical displacements of sprungmass and gives better damping of oscillations for various road inputs which improves the ride comfort.

Keywords: MR damper, semi-active suspension system,sprungmass,unsprungmass

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Table of Contents

1.

Introduction: ......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 1.2 Suspension functions: ................................................................................................................... 3 Vehicle Primary Suspensions ........................................................................................................ 4

2. 3.

Advantages of a Semi-Active Suspension System ............................................................................... 12 Damper Background ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Controllable Fluids and Devices .................................................................................................. 15

4.

Magneto-Rheological Dampers........................................................................................................... 19 4.1 4.2 4.3 Magneto-Rheological Fluids ........................................................................................................ 19 Construction of an MR Damper .................................................................................................. 20 Performance of the MR Damper ................................................................................................. 22

5.

Vehicle Ride Model: ............................................................................................................................ 25 5.1 Road Input Modeling: ................................................................................................................. 26

6 7 8

Results: ................................................................................................................................................ 29 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 36 References........................................................................................................................................... 37

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

1.

Introduction
Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and

linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Isolation from the forces transmitted by external excitation is the

fundamental task of any suspension system. Generally there are three types of suspension systems namely, passive, semi-active and active suspensions.

1.1

Suspension functions:

The automotive suspension on a vehicle typically has the following basic tasks [1] : 1) To isolate a car body from road disturbances. In order to provide good ride quality Ride quality in general can be quantified by the vertical acceleration of the passenger locations. The presence of a well-designed suspension provides isolation by reducing the vibratory forces transmitted from the axle to the vehicle body. This in turn reduces vehicle body acceleration. In the case of the quarter car suspension, sprung mass acceleration can be used to quantify ride quality. 2) To keep good road holding. The road holding performance of a vehicle can be characterized in terms of its cornering, braking and traction abilities. Improved cornering, braking and traction are obtained if the variations in normal tire loads are minimized. This is because the lateral and longitudinal forces generated by a tire depend directly on the normal tire load. Since a tire roughly behaves like a spring in response to vertical forces, variations in normal tire load can be directly related to vertical tire deflection. The road holding performance of a suspension can therefore be quantified in terms of the tire deflection performance. 3) To provide good handling. The roll and pitch accelerations of a vehicle during cornering, braking and traction are measures of good handling. Half-car and full-car models can be used to study the pitch and roll performance of a vehicle. A good suspension system should ensure that roll and pitch motion are minimized. 4) To support the vehicle static weight. This task is performed well if the rattle space requirements in the vehicle are kept small. In the case of the quarter car model, it can be quantified in terms of the maximum suspension deflection undergone by the suspension.

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

1.2

Vehicle Primary Suspensions

Primary suspension is the term used to designate those suspension components

connecting the axle and wheel assemblies of a vehicle to the frame of the vehicle. This is in contrast to the suspension components connecting the frame and body of the vehicle, or those components located directly at the vehicles seat, commonly called the secondary suspension. There are two basic types of elements in conventional suspension systems. These elements are springs and dampers. The role of the spring in a vehicles suspension system is to support the static weight of the vehicle. The role of the damper is to dissipate vibrational energy and control the input from the road that is transmitted to the vehicle. The basic function and form of a suspension is the same regardless of the type of vehicle or suspension. Primary suspensions will be divided into passive, active adjustable and semi-active systems, as will be discussed next, within the context of this study. A] Passive Suspensions A passive suspension system is one in which the characteristics of the components (springs and dampers) are fixed. These characteristics are determined by the designer of the suspension, according to the design goals and the intended application. Passive suspension design is a compromise between vehicle handling and ride comfort, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.1.)Damping Compromise for Passive Dampers

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System A heavily damped suspension will yield good vehicle handling, but also transfers much of the road input to the vehicle body. When the vehicle is traveling at low speed on a rough road or at high speed in a straight line, this will be perceived as a harsh ride. The vehicle operators may find the harsh ride objectionable, or it may damage cargo. A lightly damped suspension will yield a more comfortable ride, but can significantly reduce the stability of the vehicle in turns, lane change maneuvers, or in negotiating an exit ramp. Good design of a passive suspension can to some extent optimize ride and stability, but cannot eliminate this compromise. B] Active Suspensions In an active suspension, the passive damper or both the passive damper and spring are replaced with a force actuator, as illustrated in Figure 1.2.

Figure1.2.)Passive and Active Suspensions The force actuator is able to both add and dissipate energy from the system, unlike a passive damper, which can only dissipate energy. With an active suspension, the force actuator can apply force independent of the relative displacement or velocity across the suspension. Given the correct control strategy, this results in a better compromise between ride comfort and vehicle stability as compared to a passive system, as shown in Figure 1.3 for a quarter-car model.

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 1.3.) Passive and Active Suspension Comparison (adapted from reference [1], p.201) A quarter-car model, shown in Figure1.4is a two-degree-of-freedom model that emulates the vehicle body and axle dynamics with a single time (i.e., one-quarter of a car).

Figure 1.4.)A Quarter-Car Model. In a study by Chalasani [1], a quarter car model was used to investigate the performance gains possible with an active suspension system. In this study, the road

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System input was modeled as a white noise velocity input. The study found that within practical design limitations, an active suspension can reduce the RMS (root mean square) acceleration of the sprung mass by 20%. This suspension configuration exhibited approximately the same level of suspension travel and wheel-hop damping ratio as a lightly damped, soft passive suspension. In a further study [2], similar simulations and analysis were performed for half car model. This study estimated that active suspensions could reduce the RMS value of the sprung mass acceleration by 15%. Active suspension systems have the added advantage of controlling the attitude of a vehicle. They can reduce the effects of braking, which causes a vehicle to nose-dive, or acceleration, which causes a vehicle to squat. They also reduce the vehicle roll during cornering maneuvers. Active suspension systems, though shown to be capable of improving both ride and stability, do have disadvantages. The force actuators necessary in an active suspension system typically have large power requirements (typically 4-5 hp). The power requirements decrease the overall performance of the vehicle, and are therefore often unacceptable. Another detraction to active suspension systems is that they can have unacceptable failure modes. In the case of actuator failure the vehicle would be left undamped, and possibly unsprung. This is a potentially dangerous situation for both the vehicle and operator. B.1] Adjustable Suspensions An adjustable suspension system combines the passive spring element found in a passive suspension, with a damper element whose characteristics can be adjusted by the operator. As shown in Figure 1.5, the vehicle operator can use a selector device to set the desired level of damping based on their subjective feel.

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System Figure 1.5.) Adjustable Suspension (adapted from reference [3], p. 107) This system has the advantage of allowing to operator to occasionally adjust the dampers according to the road characteristics. It is however, unrealistic to expect the operator to adjust the suspension system to respond to time inputs such as potholes, turns, or other common road inputs. C] Semiactive Suspensions Semiactive suspension systems were first proposed in the early 1970s. In this type of system, the conventional spring element is retained, but the damper is replaced with a controllable damper as shown in Figure 1.6.)

Figure 1.6.) Passive and Semiactive Suspensions Whereas an active suspension system requires an external energy source to power an actuator that controls the vehicle, a semiactive system uses external power only to adjust the damping levels, and operate an embedded controller and a set of sensors. The controller determines the level of damping based on a control strategy, and automatically adjusts the damper to achieve that damping. One of the most common semiactive control policy is skyhook control which adjusts the damping level to emulate the effect of a damper connected from the vehicle to a stationary ground, as shown in Figure 1.7.

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 1.7.) Quarter Car Model with Skyhook Damper Mathematically, skyhook control is described as: X1*(X1-X2) 0 X1*(X1-X2) < 0 In this equation 1. X is the velocity of the upper mass and 2 X is the velocity of the lower mass. This type of skyhook control is called on-off, or bang-bang control since the damper switches back and forth between two possible damping states. When the upper mass is moving up, and the two masses are getting closer, the damping constant should ideally be zero. Due to the physical limitations of a practical damper, a damping constant of zero is not practical and a low damping constant is used. When the upper mass is moving down and the two masses are getting closer, the skyhook control policy ideally calls for an infinite damping constant. An infinite damping constant is not physically attainable, so in practice, the adjustable damping constant is set to a maximum. The effect of the skyhook control scheme is to minimize the absolute velocity of the upper mass. This is shown in figure 1.8. C = high damping C = low damping ()

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 1.8.) Skyhook Control Policy [4] It has been shown that a continuously variable semiactive suspension system is able to achieve performance comparable to that of a fully active system [5]. It is also possible to develop acontrol policy in which the damper is not just switched between a high and low state, but has an infinite number of positions in-between. This type of system is called a continuously variable semiactive system. The ranges of damping values used in these two systems are illustrated in Figure 1.9.

Figure 1.9.) Range of Damping Values Further research indicated that performance of an on-off semiactive suspension system would be very close to the performance of a continuously variable semiactive system [6]. In the case that the controllable damper necessary in a semiactive suspension fails, it will simply revert to a conventional damper. Semiactive systems not

10

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System only have a less dangerous failure mode, but are also less complex, less prone to mechanical failure, and have much lower power requirements compared to active systems.

11

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

2. Advantages of a Semi-Active Suspension System

Compared to fully active suspension systems, semi-active systems consume significantly less power. The power consumption in a semi-active system is only for purposes of changing the real-time dissipative force characteristics of the semi-active device. For example, power is used to change the area of the piston orifice in a variable opening damper or to change the current in the elecromagnetic coil of a MR damper. External power is not directly used to counter vibratory forces. Another advantage of semi-active systems over active systems is that they cannot cause the suspension system to become unstable. This is due to the fact that they do not actively supply energy to the vibratory suspension system but only dissipate energy from it.

12

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

3. Damper Background
A damper is a device that dissipates energy in the form of heat. Energy is changed to heat by forcing a viscous fluid through an orifice. In a vehicle, energy from the road, rather than being transmitted to the vehicle, is changed into a temperature rise of the fluid inside of the damper. Two types of dampers are commonly used in vehicular applications, twin-tube and monotube dampers. Both twin-tube and monotube dampers typically have bilinear damping characteristics. This means that the slope of the damper force vs. relative velocity is greater at low velocities than it is at high velocities, as shown in figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1.) Bilinear Force vs. Velocity Curve for a Conventional Damper

Figure 3.2.) Twin-Tube and Monotube Dampers

13

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System In both cases, the shock absorber has a piston that traverses back and forth inside a cylinder. In a monotube damper, the piston travels in a single cylinder that contains a fluid chamber and pressurized air chamber. A floating piston is used to separate the fluid and air chambers. The air chamber is used to accommodate the change in the fluid chamber volume, due to the volume of the piston rod. As the piston rod pushes in, it reduces the fluid chamber volume, which is gained back by the floating piston moving down against the compressible air chamber. Conversely, when the rod is pushed out, the fluid chamber volume increases and the floating piston moves up to fill the excess volume, in order to avoid the creation of a vacuum in the fluid chamber. If a vacuum is created in the fluid chamber, then the fluid will cavitate as it passes through the damper piston and the damping effect will be significantly diminished. In the twintube configuration, there is air in part of the outer tube. The compressible air is in direct contact with the incompressible fluid. As the piston rod enters the damper, the air compresses to compensate for the change in volume available to the fluid. Likewise, when the piston rod is withdrawn from the damper, the air expands in order to avoid the creation of a vacuum. In the twin-tube damper configuration, it is necessary for the air to remain at the top of the outer cylinder. If the air did not remain at the top of the damper and were to pass through the damper valving, the damping effect will be significantly diminished, as in the case where the fluid cavitates. Since there is not a barrier at the fluid-air interface, the air will only remain at the top of the outer cylinder if the damper is operated in its upright position. In either style of damper, the damping force is the result of viscous friction arising from the passage of the working fluid through an orifice. The level of the damping force that results is a function of properties of both the orifice and the fluid. The size and shape of the orifice as well as the viscosity of the fluid determine how easy it is for the fluid to pass through the orifice. A semiactive suspension system uses a damper in which the level of damping force can be adjusted. Dampers in which the damping force can be externally adjusted are called controllable dampers A controllable damper has a range over which the level of damping can be varied. This is shown in Figure 3.3.

14

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 3.3.) Damping Range of a Controllable Damper The most immediately apparent way to achieve this variable damping is to include a mechanism that is capable of varying either the size and shape of the dampers internal orifices, or the number of active orifices. Either of these methods leads to the inclusion of more moving parts inside of the damper, which could potentially lead to decreased reliability and a shortened lifetime. In order to make a controllable damper without mechanically changing the character of the internal orifices, it is necessary to vary the properties of the working fluid. The fluid itself must be able to change from a low viscosity, free flowing fluid to a high viscosity, semi-solid in a short time span. The class of fluids whose characteristics can be externally varied in this manner are called controllable fluids.

3.1

Controllable Fluids and Devices

This section gives background information on both controllable fluids and the

devices which make use of their unique properties. A] Controllable Fluids A controllable fluid is a fluid whose rheological behavior can be externally controlled, typically by the application of either an electric or a magnetic field. Fluids in which the yield strength, and hence effective viscosity, can be changed by the application of an electrical field are called electrorheological (ER) fluids. Fluids that can be controlled by the application of a magnetic field are called Bingham magnetic fluids or magnetorheological (MR) fluids. Of these two types of controllable fluids, it is

15

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System the MR fluids that are currently deemed to be best suited to most variable damper applications. Both ER and MR fluids were initially developed independently in the 1940s. ER fluids were developed by Winslow [7] and MR fluids were developed by Rabinow [8]. Initially it was ER fluids that received the most attention, but were eventually found to be not as well suited to most applications as the MR fluids. In their non-activated or off state, both MR and ER fluids typically have similar viscosity, but MR fluids exhibit a much greater increase in yield strength, and therefore viscosity, than their electrical counterparts, as shown in Table 3.1. Table 3.1.) Summary of MR and ER Properties (adapted from reference [10], p.3)

Property Yield Strength (Field)

ER Fluid 2-5 kPa (3-5 kV/mm) field limited by breakdown

MR Fluid 50-100 kPa (150-250 kA/m) field limited by saturation

Viscosity (no field) Operating Temperature

0.2-0.3 Pa-s @ 25 ?C +10 to +90 ?C (ionic, DC) -25 to +125 ?C (non-ionic, AC)

0.2-0.3 Pa-s @ 25 ?C -40 to +150 ?C (limited by carrier fluid)

Current Density

2-15 mA/cm2 (4 kV/mm, 25?C) (x10 x100 @ ?C)

can energize with permanent magnets

Specific Gravity Ancillary Materials Color

1-2.5 3-4 Any (conductive surfaces) Any, Opaque or Transparent

3-4 Iron/Steel Brown, Black, Gray/Opaque

A device based on an ER fluid will have roughly the same overall power requirement as similar device based on an MR fluid, though the ER device will require high voltage, low current power, while the MR device will require low voltage, high current power [10]. The extremely high voltage requirements for ER fluids make them

16

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System impractical for most commercial applications. Additional advantages of MR fluids over ER fluids are that ER fluids are sensitive to contaminants whereas MR fluids are not. Also, MR fluids have a much broader useful temperature range than ER fluids [10]. B] Magnetorheological Fluid Based Devices Magnetorheological fluids have application in many types of devices. Lord Corporationmanufactures MR devices under the Rheonetic brand name. One such device, shown in Figure 3.4, is a vibration damper that can be used in a controllable mount.

Figure 3.4.) MR Vibration Absorber for Use in a Controllable Mount [11] Another such device, shown in Figure 3.5, is a large scale damper used for seismic vibration control.

Figure 3.5.) MR Damper for Seismic Vibration Control (adapted from reference [12], p. 5) Another such device, shown in Figure 3.6, is a rotary brake that is being used in programmable exercise equipment.

17

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 3.6.) MR Rotary Brake [4] The most important part of any MR fluid device is an MR throttle valve [10]. The MR throttle valve is a resistance to fluid flow that is externally controllable. When a field is applied normal to the flow direction, it becomes more difficult for the fluid to pass through the valve, increasing the pressure drop across the valve. In this way the overall damping of the device is modulated.

18

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

4. Magneto-Rheological Dampers
The purpose of this section is to introduce the theoretical and practical applications of magneto-rheological (MR) fluid for a controllable MR damper. First, the concept of MR fluid will be introduced. Next, the practical realization of an MR damper will be discussed. Finally, the performance of the MR damper used for this research will be investigated. Magneto-rheological dampers are the most promising semi-active devices used nowadays in automotive engineering the MR damper is not very different from a conventional viscous damper. The difference is the magneto-rheological oil and the presence of a solenoid embedded inside the damper which produces a magnetic field. When a current is passed through the solenoid a magnetic field is developed which will cause the fluid to change its state from the fluid to semi-solid state thereby increasing the damping properties. Hence by controlling the amount of current through the solenoid we can control the damping rate of the damper.

4.1 Magneto-Rheological Fluids

Magneto-rheological fluids are materials that exhibit a change in rheological properties (elasticity, plasticity, or viscosity) with the application of a magnetic field. [17] The MR effects are often greatest when the applied magnetic field is normal to

the flow of the MR fluid. Another class of fluids that exhibit a rheological change is electro-rheological (ER) fluids. As the name suggests, ER fluids exhibit rheological changes when an electric field is applied to the fluid. However, there are many

drawbacks to ER fluids, including relatively small rheological changes and extreme property changes with temperature. Although power requirements are approximately the same, MR fluids require only small voltages and currents, while ER fluids require very large voltages and very small currents. For these reasons, MR fluids have recently become a widely studied 'smart' fluid. Besides the rheological changes that MR fluids experience while under the influence of a magnetic field, there are often other effects such as thermal, electrical, and acoustic property changes. However, in the area of vibration control, the MR effect is most interesting since it is possible to apply the effect to a hydraulic damper. The MR fluid essentially allows one to control the damping force of the damper by replacing mechanical valves commonly used in

19

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System adjustable dampers. This offers the potential for a superior damper with little concern about reliability since if the MR damper ceases to be controllable; it simply reverts to a passive damper.

4.2 Construction of an MR Damper

Magneto-rheological fluids are manufactured by suspending ferromagnetic particles in a carrier fluid. The ferromagnetic particles are often carbonyl particles, since they are relatively inexpensive. Other particles, such as iron-cobalt or iron-nickel alloys, have been used to achieve higher yield stresses from the fluid [15]. Fluids containing these alloys are impractical for most applications due to the high cost of the cobalt or nickel alloys. A wide range of carrier fluids such as silicone oil, kerosene, and synthetic oil can be used for MR fluids. The carrier fluid must be chosen carefully to accommodate the high temperatures to which the fluid can be subjected. The carrier fluid must be compatible with the specific application without suffering irreversible and unwanted property changes. The MR fluid must also contain additives to prevent the sedimentation of, and promote the dispersion of, the ferromagnetic particles. A functional representation of an MR damper, with schematics of the components necessary for operation, is shown in Figure 4.1. The fluid that is transferred from above the piston to below (and vice versa) must pass through the MR valve. The MR valve is a fixed-size orifice with the ability to apply a magnetic field, using an electromagnet, to the orifice volume. This magnetic field results in a change in viscosity of the MR fluid, causing a pressure differential for the flow of fluid in the orifice volume. The pressure differential is directly proportional to the force required to move the damper rod. As such, the damping characteristic of the MR damper is a function of the electrical current flowing into the electromagnet. This relationship allows the damping of an MR damper to be easily controlled in real time.

20

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System Figure 4.1.)Functional Representation of an MR Damper The accumulator is a pressurized volume of gas that is physically separated from the MR fluid by a floating piston or bladder. The accumulator serves two purposes. The first is to provide a volume for the MR fluid to occupy when the shaft is inserted into the damper cylinder. The second is to provide a pressure offset so that the pressure in the low pressure side of the MR valve does not induce cavitation in the MR fluid by reducing the pressure below the vapor pressure of the MR fluid. The design of the MR damper developed by Lord Corporation, Koni Incorporated, and the Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory at Virginia Tech is shown in Figure 4.2. All of the external components have been incorporated internally, providing a compact design that is very similar in size and shape to existing passive vehicle dampers. The only external parts are the two electrical leads for the electromagnet, which are connected to the current source.

Figure 4.2.) Lord/Koni MR Damper, (a) Schematic Representation, (b) Actual Hardware

21

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

4.3 Performance of the MR Damper

Force developed by an MR damper is the sum of viscous component F the field dependent induced yield stress component F.

Where is the off-field viscosity, ythe yield stress (a function of applied magnetic field, H), vp is the velocity of the piston, L is the magnetic pole length, A p area of piston, Ag fluid gap area, ARm mean area and c is a constant depends on the flow velocity profile (Emanuel Guglielmino et.al,2008)[16]. For typical passive dampers, the damper performance is often evaluated based on the force vs. velocity characteristics. For an ideal viscous damper, the force vs. velocity performance is shown in Figure 4.3. The slope of the force vs. velocity line is known as the damper coefficient, C. Frequently, the force vs. velocity line is bilinear and asymmetric, with a different value of C for jounce (compression) and rebound (extension), as shown in Figure 4.4. In the case of a vehicle suspension, the damping curve is shaped (or tuned) by a ride engineer for each particular application. Therefore, the operational envelope of a passive damper is confined to a pre-designed forcevelocity characteristic.

22

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 4.3.)Linear Damper Characteristics.

Figure 4.4.)Bilinear, Asymmetric Damping Characteristics.

In the case of MR dampers, the ideal force vs. velocity characteristics [18] are as shown in Figure 4.5. This results in a force vs. velocity envelope that can be described as an area rather than a line in the force-velocity plane. Effectively, the controller can be programmed to emulate any damper force-velocity characteristic or control policy within the envelope.

23

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 4.5.)Ideal MR Damper Performance.

We can model the ideal MR damper according to FiMRDAMPER=i Where is a constant and i is the damper current.

24

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

5.

Vehicle Ride Model

A variety of vehicle mathematical models has been developed for vehicle

performance assessment. A car can be thought of as being composed of being composed of two main sub systems: the sprungmass (chassis) .and unsprung mass(wheels, axles, and linkages),connected through a number of elastic and dissipative elements and subjected to external inputs coming from the road profile, the steering system and other external disturbances like wind forces. Vehicle ride is essentially concerned with car vertical dynamics (bounce, pitch, and roll). A half car model is a 4DOF system having three translational degrees of freedom and one rotational degree of freedom. It can represent the bounce motion of the chassis, pitch motion of the chassis and bounce motion of the wheels without taking into account of roll vibration modes.

Figure5.1.Half car model

25

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System The equations of motion for the half car model are [16]

Where m is the sprung mass, J is the pitch moment of inertia, m1 and m2 are the front and rear unsprung masses, a and b are the distances of rear and front of the vehicle from its center of gravity.

5.1

Road Input Modeling:

To study the response of vehicle systems various inputs are needed as

there is no single input which gives the same effect as that of real time road conditions. So various standard inputs [16] are given and then the response is obtained. In time domain analysis, three different road conditions are considered, namely, bump road input, road input with limited ramp and sinusoidal road input.

26

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System A] Bump input First, time responses for the bump road input are presented. This type of road surface irregularity is one of the most encountered in actuality. Bump road input is formulated as: (Figure.5.2)

Here, h is the height of the bump road input.

figure5.2.)Bump input

B] Road ramp Secondly, a road input with limited ramp as seen in (Figure 5.3) is applied to the half car model. This type of road irregularity tests the performance of the controller when there is a sudden change in the road surface elevation. Since the change in road surface elevation is permanent, this type of road input also tests whether the suspension working space is preserved since the actuator uses the inherent suspension working space while pushing up or pulling down the vehicle body in order to compensate for the change in road elevation. The road input with limited ramp is formulated as below where h is the final road surface elevation:

27

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

figure5.3.) Road Ramp input C] Sinusoidal For the time domain analysis, a sinusoidal road input (Figure 5.4) is applied to the half car model in order to test the performance of the controller for severe periodic road conditions and to see the capability of the controller keep a stable and comfortable reference value. The sinusoidal road input to the front wheels is

formulated as below with h being the magnitude of the road input.

Figure 5.4.)Sinosoidal Input

28

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

6.

Results
Figure 6.1shows time responses of vertical deflections sprungmass of semi-

active and passive system for the bump input. The semi-active system reduces the amplitude of oscillation. Percentage reduction in rms value is 43.27. Figure 6.2 shows the acceleration response of spring mass vertical motion. The rms value is reduced 17.5%. Figure 6.3 and Figure 6.4 depicts the response of pitch motion and pitch acceleration respectively. Though the peak values and the rms values are higher in the case of semi-active system the pitch motion gives very good response once the force is removed. Time responses of displacement for road ramp input are given in Figure 6.5. It is seen from the figure that the peak of displacement and number of oscillations are significantly reduced. Percentage reduction in rms value is 1.4. Figure 6.6represents the plot between acceleration vs time. More than 77% reduction in acceleration is obtained. Similarly Figure 6.7 and figure 6.8 depicts pitch motion and pitch acceleration for road ramp input. Percentage reduction attained are 71.27 and 29 .2 respectively for pitch motion and pitch acceleration.[20]

Figure 6.1.) Sprung mass response for bump road input

29

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure.6.2.) Sprung mass acceleration for bump road input

Figure 6.3.) Pitch motion for bump road input

30

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 6.4.) Pitch acceleration for bump road input

Figure 6.5.) Sprung mass response for road ramp input

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MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 6.6.) Sprung mass acceleration for road ramp input

Figure 6.7.)Pitch motion for road ramp input

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MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 6.8.)pitch acceleration for road ramp input Figures 6.9 and 6.10show time response of displacement of sprungmass and acceleration for a sinusoidal road input. In these cases both rms value and peak values

increases slightly. Figures 6.11 and 6.12 plot time response of pitch motion and pitch acceleration respectively. Percentage reduction attained in the cases of pitch motion and pitch acceleration are 15.6 and 36.21 respectively.

Figure 6.9.) Sprung mass response for sinusoidal road input

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MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 6.10.) Sprung mass acceleration sinusoidal road input

Figure 6.12.) Pitch motion for sinusoidal road input

34

MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

Figure 6.13.) Pitch acceleration for sinusoidal road input

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MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

7.

Conclusion
A semi-active suspension system with MR damper is analyzed and its

performance is evaluated for a half car model. Responses of sprung mass for both passive and active vehicle suspension system are plotted for various road inputs. Semi-active suspension system reduces the RMS values of both displacement and acceleration in most of the cases. Reduction in these values gives an indication of the effectiveness of MR damper based semi-active control system in the vehicle suspension system.

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MR Damper and Its Application in Vehicle Suspension System

8.

References

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