Directionally Controllable Squeeze Film Damper Using Electro-Rheological Fluid

Abstract

Electro-Rheological (ER) fluid is a class of functional fluid whose yield stress can be changed by an electric field applied to the fluid, which is observed as a variation of apparent viscosity. This functional fluid is applied to a controllable squeeze film damper (SFD) for stabilizing a flexible rotor system. In applying ER fluid to a conventional passive SFD, a pair of rings in the damper can be used as electrodes. When the electrodes are divided into a horizontal pair and a vertical one, the SFD can provide external damping in each direction independently. A prototype of the directionally controllable SFD was constructed and its performance was experimentally and numerically investigated in the present work.