An investigation into the effect of temperature on the performance of magnetorheological fluid dampers

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers are semi-actively controlled smart damping devices. MR dampers have been the focus of intense research for the past few decades and have been used in various practical applications. Many studies have been conducted on control applications of MR dampers along with dynamic, numerical, and analytical models for predicting the force response. Nevertheless, many problems still limit the widespread use of MR dampers. One of these challenges is the performance loss due to the elevated temperatures inside the MR damper body, which is induced by viscous heating and electrical resistance. This is a common problem for many types of MR dampers, reducing the performance of the control algorithms. Thus, it is important to predict the effect of the temperature on the force response under different conditions. In this study, an experimental test setup was used to monitor the effect of the temperature on the performance of a commercial LORD RD-8041-1MR damper. Experiments were conducted under different current and frequency settings. The results showed that the force loss due to the temperature difference could reach up to 50% at the highest frequency and lowest current condition. According to the results, both current and frequency play a critical role in predicting the force loss, as they significantly influence the damper's sensitivity to temperature changes.