Study of magneto-rheological fluid damper for suspension of high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle

This study presents an experimental study of a fail-safe semi-active magneto-dreological fluid (MRF) damper for off-highway, high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (HMWWV). A full-scale two degree-of-freedom quarter car model has been constructed. Different control algorithms have been utilized to control the MR fluid damper. The dynamic response of the full-scale quarter HMMWV model with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) passive damper was compared with a fail-safe MR fluid damper. Simple barmonic excitations and an off-road profile are used to study the performance of the dampers. The performances of the MR fluid damper for various control algorithms are also compared. On-off skyhook, continuous skyhook and fuzzy control algorithms are utilized and the performance of semi-actively controlled MR fluid dampers are investigated both theoretically and experimentally.; Theoretical results indicate that 44% maximum reduction in acceleration is obtained by using continuous control method under random input. The handling (loss of contact) of the quarter HMWWV model is also improved by 13% under the same conditions. Based on the experimental results both acceleration and displacement of the vehicle body could be reduced by utilizing skyhook control and fuzzy control MR fluid damper. The ride quality of the vehicle has been improved 13% by replacing the OEM damper with displacement and velocity based fuzzy control MR fluid damper. In addition, the MR fluid damper also exhibits fail-safe characteristics.