Design and modeling of semi-active squeeze film dampers using magneto-rheological fluids

Conventional squeeze film dampers (SFDs) have shown their effectiveness in suppressing unbalanced vibrations in rotor systems, particularly supported by rolling element bearings. Recently, there is an increasing demand for 'controllable' SFDs to meet the need of modern rotating machinery, characterized by high operating speed and high load capacity. Thus, this paper presents a controllable semi-active SFD using magneto-rheological (MR) fluids, focusing on its design and modeling. It offers a comprehensive design method and an innovative experimental identification and modeling technique for MR-SFDs. The primary goal of the MR-SFD design is set to maximize its dynamic control bandwidth, and the design method includes the material selection, magnetic circuit analysis and sealing element design. After constructing a prototype MR-SFD based on the final design, this work investigated how some of the critical design parameters affect the performance of the MR-SFD (i.e. its dynamic control bandwidth change). Furthermore, it characterized the damper's dynamic behavior experimentally using a novel excitation method that adopts active magnetic bearing (AMB) units. Unlike conventional methods, the AMB system was able to precisely control the amplitude and frequency of the input excitation, enabling us to obtain the nonlinear dynamic stiffness properties of the MR-SFD with varying input current. In modeling the dynamic behavior of the MR-SFD, this study employed the describing function method. The describing function analysis effectively captured the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the MR-SFD.