Structural design and multi-objective optimization of a novel asymmetric magnetorheological damper

Abstract The MRD with continuously adjustable damping, small compression, and large extension for asymmetric output may improve all-terrain vehicle impact resistance and vibration reduction performance in a variety of conditions. A novel conical flow channel asymmetric MRD (CFC-MRD) is proposed to solve the structure complexity stroke sacrifice, and lack of failure protection concerns in currently studied asymmetric MRD structures. In the design, the non-parallel plate magnetic circuit characteristics of CFC-MRD are investigated, including theoretical analysis and finite element modeling, and the correctness of the model is proved by testing. Considerations in multi-objective optimization include special performance imposing extra restrictions, and making the work more complicated and prone to local optima. To address this, the Nelder–Mead approach is utilized, which decreases the complexity of the optimization model while simultaneously managing performance conflicts. And a collaborative optimization strategy employing Comsol and Matlab tools is applied to improve optimization efficiency. The greatest difference between theoretical optimized values and real values is less than 6.77% in the experiments, showing the efficiency of the CFC-MRD structure design and optimization process.