Modeling and control of an electrorheological device for structural control applications

This paper presents some of the results of an experimental and analytical study of a controllable electrorheological (ER) device configured to induce an adjustable amount of dynamic shear force in response to an applied voltage. Maps of the force-deformation characteristics of the aluminosilicate based ER material are developed over a relatively wide frequency range, and approximating analytical expressions are obtained for the force-deformation-frequency-voltage characteristics of the material. Subsequently, an evaluation is made of the efficiency of using online control of an electrorheological actuator to emulate the operation of an optimally tuned auxiliary mass damper attached to a primary system subjected to arbitrary dynamic environments. It is shown through numerical simulation studies that the proposed parameter control algorithm provides an efficient means for the online control of the primary system under a wide range of excitations. An experimental study is presented in which an ER device is used, in conjunction with a small laboratory building model, as a semiactive element in an online structural control approach using pulse control techniques.