Experimental development and control of magnetorheological damper towards smart energy absorption of composite structures

Experimental investigation and efficient control of magnetorheological (MR) damper towards smart energy absorption of composite structures are presented in this paper. The evaluation of an existing MR damper based on the damping force presented in our earlier work is limited by the experiment configuration setup. Using two arms configuration, an experimental test rig is designed to overcome this limitation and enabled the MR damper to be investigated throughout its full velocity range capability. A controller is then developed based on the MR damper investigation to provide automated variable control of induced current with a set crushing force and available data of composite tube crushing force. The controller is assessed numerically and shows that MR damper is controlled to provide consistent crushing force despite oscillation from the composite tube crushing force. This, thus, shows promise of MR damper integration towards smart energy absorption of composite structures.