Electro-Rheological (ER) fluid is a class of functional fluid whose yield stress can be changed by an electric field applied to the fluid, which is observed as a variation of apparent viscosity. This functional fluid is applied to a controllable squeeze film damper (SFD) for stabilizing a flexible rotor system. In applying ER fluid to a conventional passive SFD, a pair of rings in the damper can be used as electrodes. When the electrodes are divided into a horizontal pair and a vertical one, the SFD can provide external damping in each direction independently. A prototype of the directionally controllable SFD was constructed and its performance was experimentally and numerically investigated in the present work.

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
damping, vibration control, electrorheology, machine bearings, lubrication
Topics:
Dampers, Damping, Electric fields, Electrorheological fluids, Rotors, Electrodes, Fluids, Viscosity
1.
Thomsen
,
K. K.
, and
Andersen
,
H.
,
1974
, “
Experimental Investigation of a Simple Squeeze Film Damper
,”
ASME J. Eng. Ind.
,
96
, No.
2
, pp.
427
–
430
.
2.
Satio
,
S.
, and
Kobayashi
,
M.
,
1982
, “
On the Vibration of a Rotor Supported by Squeeze Film Damper
,”
Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng., Ser. C
,
48
, No.
436
, pp.
1883
–
1888
.
3.
Nikolajsen
,
J. L.
, and
Hoque
,
M. S.
,
1988
, “
An Electroviscous Damper for Rotor Applications
,”
ASME J. Vibr. Acoust.
,
112
, No.
3
, pp.
440
–
443
.
4.
Morishita
,
S.
, and
Mitsui
,
J.
,
1992
, “
Controllable Squeeze Film Damper (An Application of Electro-Rheological Fluid)
,”
ASME J. Vibr. Acoust.
,
114
, No.
3
, pp.
354
–
357
.
5.
Tichy
,
J. A.
,
1993
, “
Behavior of a Squeeze Film Damper with an Electrorheological Fluid
,”
Tribol. Trans.
,
36
, No.
1
, pp.
127
–
133
.
6.
Winslow, W. M., 1947, “Method and Means for Translating Electrical Impulses into Mechanical Forces,” US Patent Specification 2417850.
7.
Carlson, J. D., and Spencer, B. F., Jr., 1996, “Magneto-Rheological Fluid Dampers for Semi-Active Seismic Control,” Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Motion and Vibration Control, pp. 35–40.
8.
Stanway
,
R.
,
Sproston
,
J. L.
, and
EL-Wahed
,
A. K.
,
1996
, “
Applications of Electro-Rheological Fluids in Vibration Control: a Survey
,”
Smart Mater. Struct.
,
5
, pp.
464
–
482
.
9.
Morishita
,
S.
, and
Ura
,
T.
,
1993
, “
ER Fluid Applications to Vibration Control Devices and an Adaptive Neural-Net Controller
,”
Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures
,
4
, pp.
366
–
372
.
10.
Hoque, M. S., 1988, “Experimental Investigation of an Electroviscous Damper for Rotordynamics Applications,” Master thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, Texas A&M University.
11.
Peel
,
D. J.
,
Stanway
,
R.
, and
Bullough
,
W. A.
,
1996
, “
Dynamic Modeling of an ER Vibration Damper for Vehicle Suspension Applications
,”
Smart Mater. Struct.
,
5
, pp.
591
–
606
.
12.
Dyke
,
S. J.
,
Spencer
,
B. F.
, Jr.,
Sain
,
M. K.
, and
Carlson
,
J. D.
,
1996
, “
Modeling and Control of Magnetorheological Dampers for Seismic Response Reduction
,”
Smart Mater. Struct.
,
5
, pp.
565
–
575
.
Copyright © 2002
 by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.