Numerical Analysis of the Vehicle Damping Performance of a Magnetorheological Damper with an Additional Flow Energy Path

Abstract

Vehicles experience various frequency excitations from road surfaces. Recent research has focused on active dampers that adapt their damping forces according to these conditions. However, traditional magnetorheological (MR) dampers face a “block-up phenomenon” that limits their effectiveness. To address this, additional flow-type MR dampers have been proposed, although revised designs are required to accommodate changes in damping force characteristics. This study investigates the damping performance of MR dampers with an additional flow path to enhance the vehicle ride quality. An optimization model was developed based on fluid dynamics equations and analyzed using electromagnetic simulations in ANSYS Maxwell software. Vibration analysis was conducted using AMESim by applying a sinusoidal road surface model with various frequencies. Results show that the optimized diameter of the additional flow path obtained from the analysis was 1.1 mm, and it was shown that the total damping force variation at low piston velocities decreased by approximately 56% compared to conventional MR dampers. Additionally, vibration analysis of the MR damper with the optimized additional flow path diameter revealed that at 30 km/h, 37.9% acceleration control was achievable, at 60 km/h, 18.7%, and at 90 km/h, 7.73%. This demonstrated the resolution of the block-up phenomenon through the additional flow path and confirmed that the vehicle with the applied damper could control a wider range of vehicle upper displacement, velocity, and acceleration compared to conventional vehicles.

Keywords

• magnetorheological (MR) damper
• additional flow energy path
• quota vehicle model
• vibration analysis
• electromagnetic analysis
• AMESim