Modeling of MR Fluids and Devices

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids and MR fluid devices have been under development at General Motors R&D since the early 1990's. As part of this work, a number of modeling efforts have been undertaken to better understand the fundamentals of MR fluids and MR device behavior.In this paper, we include a discussion of four modeling examples: MR fluids with bimodal particle size distributions; an analysis of the transient shear behavior of MR fluids; a model of the behavior of MR particles in a gravitational field; and a lumped parameter model of a MR clutch. For each example, we will discuss the motivation that led to the study, the methods used to try to answer the question that led to the work and conclude with a brief discussion of other potential work that could be done.