Optimal design of a vehicle magnetorheological damper considering the damping force and dynamic range

This paper presents an optimal design of a passenger vehicle magnetorheological (MR) damper based on finite element analysis. The MR damper is constrained in a specific volume and the optimization problem identifies the geometric dimensions of the damper that minimize an objective function. The objective function consists of the damping force, the dynamic range, and the inductive time constant of the damper. After describing the configuration of the MR damper, the damping force and dynamic range are obtained on the basis of the Bingham model of an MR fluid. Then, the control energy (power consumption of the damper coil) and the inductive time constant are derived. The objective function for the optimization problem is determined based on the solution of the magnetic circuit of the initial damper. Subsequently, the optimization procedure, using a golden-section algorithm and a local quadratic fitting technique, is constructed via commercial finite element method parametric design language. Using the developed optimization tool, optimal solutions of the MR damper, which are constrained in a specific cylindrical volume defined by its radius and height, are determined and a comparative work on damping force and inductive time constant between the initial and optimal design is undertaken.