Magneto-rheological squeeze-film damper for semi-active control of rotor vibrations

This paper summarizes the design, fabrication and experimental evaluation of an adjustable squeeze-film damper to control radial vibration on a rotating shaft. Conventional squeeze-film dampers are widely used on high speed rotors to provide radial damping. For this semi-active design, controllability is realized by replacing the conventional damping fluid with a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid. The shear strength of the MR fluid can be adjusted in realtime by manipulating voltage to electromagnets which surround the bearing. Experimental evaluations are conducted on a highspeed (0-10000 rpm) test rig. The results show that the damper has a significant effect on the rotor responses near resonance region