Thermal-magnetic performance analysis for smart fluid dampers

Over the years, the Italian Government has taken significant strides in promoting road safety awareness among the students in high schools to create an awareness of prevention and a consciousness of road safety in the student population. In this context, an agreement was signed between the DICEAM Department of the “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria (Italy) and the “Euclide” Higher Education Institute Bova Marina (Italy) to combine road safety with research science in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) area. With the primary aim of “knowing in order to act”, the students focused on the multi-physics design of magnetorheological fluid dampers as high-performance devices (simple to design and requiring reduced maintenance) for vehicle suspensions, especially class B vehicles. By combining road safety considerations with multi-physics scientific disciplines, the project seeks to emphasize the importance of prevention and knowledge-based action. The study explores the use of magnetorheological fluid dampers, powered by electric current and magnetic induction distribution with thermal loads, to provide appropriate yield stress for developing damping action with repercussions on the quality of road safety. The paper delves into the basic principles of FEM (Finite Element Method) techniques for analyzing an MR damper from both magnetostatic (the main cause generating the damping effect) and thermal perspectives (thermal effects are strongly influenced by environmental conditions). The analysis of an asymmetrical device, where the damping action relies on an MR fluid strip, reveals the significant influence of magnetic and thermal stresses on the magnetization of individual particles and the overall viscosity of the MR fluid.