THEORETICAL PROJECT

Ahmad Hassan
2012-ME-87

Control Lab
 Active Shock Absorbers
Active shock absorbers are used in several kinds of machines and vehicles. An active shock

absorber is basically a damped harmonic oscillator with spring constant k for a mass m.

This technology uses magnetorheological fluids that change their damping factor when a

magnetic field is applied. Three different damping functions are considered here.

The equation for the system is , where can be chosen

according to the application.

References

[1] P. Blanchard, R. L. Devaney, and G. R. Hall, Differential Equations, 4th ed., Boston:

Brooks/Cole, 2012 pp. 454456.

[2] G. Stix, "Project Skyhook," Scientific American, 284(5) pp. 2829.

[3] Wikipedia. "Magnetorheological Fluid." (Jan 15,

2012) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetorheological_fluid.