Chin. J. Mech. Eng.
DOI 10.1007/s10033-017-0153-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient
of Hydraulic Actuators
Ming-Hui Huang1 • Qing Pan1 • Yi-Bo Li1 • Peng-Da Ma1 • Jun Ma1
Received: 30 July 2015 / Revised: 26 April 2017 / Accepted: 10 May 2017
Ó Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017
Abstract The viscous damping coefficient (VDC) of
hydraulic actuators is crucial for system modeling, control
and dynamic characteristic analysis. Currently, the resear-
ches on hydraulic actuators focus on behavior assessment,
promotion of control performance and efficiency. However,
the estimation of the VDC is difficult due to a lack of study.
Firstly, using two types of hydraulic cylinders, behaviors of
the VDC are experimentally examined with velocities and
pressure variations. For the tested plunger type hydraulic
cylinder, the exponential model B ¼ atb ; ða [ 0; b [ 0Þ
or B ¼ a1 eb1 t þ a2 eb2 t ða1 ; a2 [ 0; b1 ; b2 [ 0Þ, fits the
relation between the VDC and velocities for a given pressure
of chamber with high precision. The magnitude of the VDC
decreases almost linearly under certain velocities when
increasing the chamber pressure from 0.6 MPa to 6.0 MPa.
Furthermore, the effects of the chamber pressures on the
VDC of piston and plunge type hydraulic cylinders are
different due to different sealing types. In order to investi-
gate the VDC of a plunger type hydraulic actuator drasti-
cally, a steady-state numerical model has been developed to
describe the mechanism incorporating tandem seal lubrica-
tion, back-up ring related friction behaviors and shear stress
of fluid. It is shown that the simulated results of VDC agree
Supported by National Basic Research Development Program of
China (Grant No. 2011CB706802), Hunan Provincial Foundation for
Postgraduate of China (Grant No. CX2013B062), and Innovation
Driven Program of Central South University of China (Grant No.
2015CX002).
& Qing Pan
panqing0905@csu.edu.cn
1 an identification procedure to determine the effective
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex
Manufacturing, Central South University,
Changsha 410083, Hunan, China
with the measured results with a good accuracy. The pro-
posed method provides an instruction to predict the VDC in
system modeling and analysis.
Keywords Hydraulic actuator  Viscous damping
coefficient  Friction  Tandem seal
1 Introduction
Hydraulic actuation systems are currently used in various
branches of industrial applications, since they have many
advantages such as high power-to-weight ratio, fast
dynamic response, easily realized automatic control, wide
range of speed control, etc. In the past decades, much
emphasis has been put on behavior assessment, improving
efficiency and control performance [1–4].
Yet the challenge remains, especially in the develop-
ment of hydraulic control system. One of the important
issues that needs to be considered is the uncertainties like
parameter variations in the system which occur inevitably
[5, 6]. As it is well known, the VDC which in fact varies
with time as operation condition play a significant role in
the dynamic characteristics of a hydraulic system. How-
ever, due to a lack of the understanding of the VDC, it is
normally defined as a constant or a range of variations
based upon empirical estimation [3, 7, 8].
Burenin [9] developed a method to determine the VDC
based on equation of the continuity of flow and Newton’s
second law acting on the piston. They have shown that the
VDC is a constant when the hydraulic actuator is operated
at quasilinear operating regime. Qian et al. [10] proposed
damping coefficient of a servo-hydraulic actuator using a
series of white noise inputs and genetic algorithm base on a
123

fourth-order transfer function. However, the VDC is usu-
ally estimated as a constant since the identification exper-
iments are operated in the case of constant load. On the
other hand, the estimated error depends on the accuracy of
the model developed. It is very difficult to get the knowl-
edge of variation of VDC by using identification technique.
Chinniah, et al. [11] developed a transfer function model of
electrohydraulic actuator and an extended Kalman filter
was utilized to estimate the VDC.
Usually, the VDC is incorporated into the formulation of
viscous friction, which is demonstrated in several mathe-
matical friction models [12–15]. It is common knowledge that
the Stribeck curve demonstrates good validity in depicting
steady-state friction characteristics. In the classical Stribeck
model, the viscous damping coefficient is presented in the
form of velocity-related coefficient. Since the combination of
Sribeck effect, viscous friction and Coulomb friction are
included into friction models, e.g., Stribeck model [14],
Karnopp model [16], LuGre model [15], modified LuGre
model [17, 18], GMS model [19, 20], etc., similarly, the
coefficient is thought to be a constant that is independent of
pressure,packing material or velocity. Therefore, investiga-
tions of variations and influential factors of the viscous
damping coefficient will be favorable to modify friction
models for hydraulic actuators. On the other hand, the viscous
damping coefficient, which is related to system damping,
plays a key role in system stability analysis [21–23]. However,
correlative research on predicting the specific parameter is not
adequate at all. There is therefore a need to investigate the
viscous friction coefficient drastically, by taking into account
state variables and describing the performance of the system.
The method developed in the present study does so.
As is known to all, the viscous damping coefficient is an
indicator to characterize viscous friction force. Neverthe-
less, friction resistance of hydraulic cylinders stems from
the interaction of piston seals/guiding materials, contacting
surfaces and film lubrication dynamics. Thus, many note-
worthy analyses have been conducted to understand how
the seal and contacting interfaces perform under lubricated
conditions [24–27]. Researchers have shown that the vis-
coelastic effect and geometrical configuration of recipro-
cating seals play an important role in friction behaviors of
the rod, and that the pressure distribution in the sealing
zone depends on hydrodynamic effects, film dynamics and
viscosity of the fluid [28]. In addition, the local deforma-
tion of the packing material is a result of the diversification
effect of pressure distribution and contact mechanics at the
seal-rod interface. The fluid viscosity is affected by the
hydrodynamic pressure distribution and temperature of the
lubricant. Due to the highly coupled effects between the
above-mentioned micro-processes, it is very questionable
to predict the viscous friction coefficient that is considered
to be independent of internal conditions.
123
M.-H. Huang et al.
It is shown in the experimental tests that full film and mixed
lubrication do occur over a wide range of operations [26, 29].
As can be seen, the relationship between the viscous friction
coefficient and the operating condition is rather complicated
and therefore, it is unrealistic to capture the detailed charac-
teristics by experimental measurements merely.
The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 describes
the experimental apparatus and test method. The numerical
model and hydrodynamics in the operation of the hydraulic
actuator are demonstrated in Section 3. The experimental
and simulation results are given in Section 4, in addition
the validity of the method of estimating the viscous
damping coefficient is verified. And finally, the main
conclusion is drawn in Section 5.
2 Experimental Setup and Investigation
A photo of the experiment setup and schematic diagram of the
test bench utilized in this study are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The
system pressure is powered by a load-sensible variable dis-
placement pump (1), which delivers the fluid pressure up to 25
MPa. The actuators of the test platform are noted as main
cylinder (10) (cylinder 1, used for testing) and load cylin-
der (13) (cylinder 2, for loading), and the rods of the two
hydraulic actuators are coupled by a steel joint, where a force
transducer (12) is fixed on the right side of Fig. 2. The testing
actuator (10) has a 0.11 m bore, a 0.08 m rod diameter and a
0.56 m stroke. Two pressure transducers (8) and (9), are used
to measure the pressure and, in the chambers of the measured
cylinder. The motion of the tested actuator is controlled by a
proportional valve (3) (manufactured by DUPLOMATIC,
RPCED1-16/T3/51-24), that is mounted on a reinforced
platform, which can supply the cylinder with pressured fluid at
a maximum rate of 16 L/min. The proportional valve receives
control signals from a 16-bit analog output module of Pro-
grammable Logic Controller (PLC, manufactured by SIE-
MENS), which is shown in the electronic unit of Fig. 1.
Load
Rod displacement
Pressure
Control panel
Actuators
Hydraulic
Control medium
signal
Hydrovalve Power supply unit
assembly
Electronic control unit
Fig. 1 Experimental setup
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

x The method of obtaining the VDC of the main cylinder, B,

Cylinder 1 10 12 Cylinder 2
p1
13
p2
IP
IP 8 9 11 14
7 Test A: In order to examine the effects of velocities and
6 15
4 conditions. The effect of velocities was investigated by
5 16
3 effect of pressures was examined by changing the load
17
2
1 (b). Based upon the results obtained in Fig. 3(a) and (b),
18
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of the test rig
1,18-Pump; 2-One-way valve; 3-Proportional flow valve;
4,5,16-Solenoid directional control valve; 6-Hydraulically
operated directional valve; 7,14-Proportional relief valve; 8,9-
Pressure transducer; 10-Main hydraulic actuator; 11-Dis-
placement tranducer; 12-Force tranducer; 13-Load cylinder;
15- Proportional pressure reducing valve; 17- Relief valve;
The displacement of the rod is measured using a dis-
placement transducer (11) by transforming liner motion to
rotary motion in its inner structure, and the test signal is
used for realizing of control law. The acceleration of the
rod is calculated by an approximate differential procedure
of the measured displacement signal. In order to depress
the effect of noise, a Butterworth filter is employed with a
cut-off frequency of 30 Hz in data reprocessing stage. The
load of actuator 1, produced by cylinder 2, is measured by a
force sensor. The pressure of load cylinder (13) is con-
trolled using a proportional pressure reducing valve (15)
(DUPLOMATIC, MZE5-I/56-24) in order to realize the
simulation of load variation accurately by setting different
amounts of load. The measured signal, displacement,
velocity, pressures and, and load, are read into the PLC for
the sake of friction measurement and realization of control
algorithm. In this investigation, the velocity of the piston is
controlled using a PI law to track the desired constant
linear velocity.
The equation of motion of the rod is expressed as:
d2 x
m ¼ p1 A1  p2 A2  FL  Bv;
dt2
where m is the mass of the piston, x is the displacement of
the rod, A1 and A2 are areas of the piston, FL stands for the
load force applied to the rod of the main cylinder.
is based on the measurements of pressures of main cylinder
(10), p1 and p2 , and velocity of the actuator’s rod, v, calcu-
lated acceleration in data post-processing procedure, and the
force FL , applied by load cylinder (13). With reference to
Eq. (1), when the main cylinder moves at a velocity under
load, the viscous coefficient can be easily calculated.
As is shown in Table 1, two types of hydraulic actuators,
piston and plunger type cylinder were tested, respectively.
pressures on the VDC, a cylinder was tested in different
changing input voltage of the proportional valve. The
applied via load actuator. The test results are shown in
Fig. 3. Measured displacement, velocities, pressures, load
force, friction force and VDC are shown in Fig. 3(a) and
the effects of pressures and velocities on VDC is demon-
strated in Fig. 3(c) and (d). The surface of Fig. 3(c) was
interpolated (Sum of Squares for Error X1 =1.36910-26,
R-square R1 =1) based on tested data which is presented as
red points in Fig. 3(c) and corresponding contour map of
VDC is shown in Fig. 3(d). It can be deduced that the
viscous damping coefficient varies obviously with the
change of velocities and pressures. Increasing the velocity
from 0.5 mm/s to 10 mm/s leads to a drop in the VDC. In
addition, varied viscous damping coefficient under differ-
ent pressures indicates that hydraulic pressure affects the
VDC drastically.
Test B: The measurement of viscous damping coeffi-
cient was conducted on another hydraulic test bench with
similar arrangements and control modes of hydraulic
cylinders. However, the cylinders adopted is plunger
hydraulic actuators with one chamber (Fig. 4).
The velocity, displacement, chamber pressure, and load
force, VDC, etc., are shown in Fig. 5. Therefore, the friction
force and VDC for different operating conditions were cal-
culated based on the motion equation. The effects of pres-
sures and velocities on VDC were investigated by
interpolation (Sum of Squares for Error = 4.497910-26,
R-square = 1), and the surface and contour map of VDC are
shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b), respectively. It is shown that the
magnitude of friction and viscous damping coefficient keep
nearly constant value at certain velocities and chamber
Table 1 Hydraulic cylinders tested in this investigation
ð1Þ
Type Bore dia. D/mm Rod dia. d/mm Seal type
A 110 80 DAS assembly
B \ 125 Step ring & Yx

123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

Fig. 3 Example of test A:

(a) measured displacement x,
measured velocities v, measured
chamber pressure p1 ;
(b) measured load FL , measured
friction force Fr , measured
viscous damping coefficient B
for the operating condition of
9.17 mm/s, 7.15 MPa; (c) B v.s.
chamber pressure p1 and
velocity v; (d) contour map of
VDC

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Load higher the chamber pressure is, the smaller the viscous
Displacement damping coefficient becomes under constant velocities.
Pressure Obviously, chamber pressure exerts distinctive impacts
Control panel
on the VDC of piston type and plunger type hydraulic
Plunge type hydraulic cylinder cylinders, respectively.
The seal type used in Test B is completely different
from that in Test A. For Test A, DAS assembly seals are
Control
signal deformed by pressures from none rod chamber and rod
chamber. The higher the value of load is, the tighter the
Electronic control unit Valves seal performance is. In terms of step rings, the hierarchic
Power supply unit
structure reduces the inner ring from contacting with rod.
In addition, the magnitude of VDC of test A is larger than
Fig. 4 Experimental setup of the hydraulic actuators that of test B. This is due to that there are two parts of seals
come into contact with cylinder for piston type actuator.
pressure. However, increasing the velocities lead to a decline
in the VDC at certain value of pressure as shown in Figs. 7
and 8. In addition, the following exponential model fits the 3 Problem Formulation
relation between viscous damping coefficient and velocities
for a given pressure of chamber with a good accuracy: Fig. 9 shows the sealing configuration used for the typical
b
B ¼ at ; ða [ 0; b [ 0Þ hydraulic cylinder, viz., it consists of cylinder block, the
reciprocating piston rod, the seal and back-up ring. In order
B ¼ a1 expðb1 tÞ þ a2 expðb2 tÞ; ða1 ; a2 [ 0; b1 ; b2 [ 0Þ to estimate the viscous damping coefficient, friction on the
rod must be calculated. Thus the source of viscous friction
Moreover, changing the chamber pressure, leads to large for the actuator is presented as follows:
variations of the VDC. The magnitude of the VDC changes A. Tandem sealing zone. Rod sealing region is utilized
linearly from 0.65 MN  s  m1 to 0.2 MN  s  m1 , when to prevent external leakage from rod chamber to the out-
increasing the pressure from 0.6 MPa to 6.0 MPa. The side. Usually, multiple seals (named as primary, secondary

123
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

(a) (a)

(b)
Fig. 5 Example of test B: (a) measured velocities v, measured load (b)
FL , measured chamber pressure p1 for the condition of 5 mm/s, 6
MPa; (b) measured displacement x, measured friction force Fr , Fig. 6 Effects of velocity and pressure on VDC: (a) B v.s. chamber
measured viscous damping coefficient B for the condition of 5 mm/s, pressure p1 and velocity v; (b) contour map of VDC
6 MPa

seals, etc.) are mounted on the hydraulic actuator block in

order to improve the performance of sealing zone.
B. Auxiliary sealing zone. The frequently used back-up
ring, which is made of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and
copper powder, has an negligible impact on the pressure
drop. Initially (during assembly), the back-up rings and the
rod come into contact inevitably with low contact stress.
C. Viscous shear of oil on rod in chamber. There is a
fairly large gap between cylinder block and the rod in the
chamber. Based on Newton’s law of friction, the shear
stress generated in fluid layers acts on the rod. The shear
stress is proportional to the velocity gradient, which has
nothing to do with pressure.
Noting that the film thickness is much smaller than the Fig. 7 Effect of velocities on the viscous damping coefficient with
seal radius, and a Cartesian coordinate system Oxy is fixed the variation of pressure

123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

cylinder block, respectively. The region where the seal lip

comes into contact with the rod of the cylinder is termed as
the sealing zone, as illustrated in microcosmic scale in
Fig. 10(b). The contacting surfaces are treated as rough,
and asperities interact with each other and contacts form
under static conditions. Moreover, lubricant film is formed
between the sliding surfaces during instroke and outstroke,
as shown in Fig. 10(c). Obviously, tandem sealing related
viscous damping coefficient is drastically affected by film
dynamics since the friction between contact surfaces is
tremendously determined by lubricant film thickness.

3.1.1 Fluid Mechanics

The following form of the Reynolds equation [30], which is

derived from mean flow quantities, is presented as
Fig. 8 Effects of pressures on the viscous damping coefficient with    
the variation of velocities o h3 op o hðu a þ ub Þ o ua  ub 
/x ¼ þ r/s ;
ox 12g ox ox 2 ox 2
Back-up Seal ð4Þ
y ring Back-up ring (for shaft)
h

O x
Guide sleeve Wiper ring
which is given in one-dimensional form, where h is average
Stepseal
(a) (b) local film thickness, h is nominal average film thickness. ua
Cylinder and ub are velocities of seals and rod, respectively. Note
block
that ua ¼ U, ub ¼ 0 in this work, U stands for velocity of
the rod. The flow factors /x , /s , are introduced into the
Rod Outstroke
Instroke Reynolds equation in order to account for the effect of
surface topology (roughness) in the sealing regime [31, 32].
The composite root mean square (RMS) roughness takes
the form
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
r ¼ r2a þ r2b ; ð5Þ
Fig. 9 Schema of seal configuration of hydraulic actuator: (a) rod
chamber; (b) rod sealing zone
where ra and rb denote the RMS roughness of contact
to the rod. The actuator fluid is assumed to be Newtonian partners.
and the stroke length is larger than the seal width. In order to account for the effects of cavitation on
The dynamic viscosity of the fluid is given by the friction and the viscous damping coefficient, an index, F
Roelands’ formula, and a variable, U, is introduced [26],
g ¼ g0 expððlng0 þ 9:67Þ½1 þ ð1 þ p=p0 Þz Þ: ð2Þ
The fluid mass density is presented as
  Outer seal
ca p
q ¼ q0 1 þ ; ð3Þ
1 þ cb p
where g ¼ g0 ðp ¼ 0; T ¼ T0 Þ; q ¼ q0 ðp ¼ 0; T ¼ T0 Þ Sealed Inner Inner-seal
fluid seal region
denote initial fluid viscosity and density, respectively, and pinter
psealed pou ter
ca , cb , z are fluid constants, p stands for fluid pressure, p0 is l1 l2
(a)
Pressure-viscosity coefficient, p0 ¼ 1:96  108 : ub
lubricant film
formation
3.1 Tandem Sealing Zone O x
O
x
h

Inner Outer ua
y boundary
(b) boundary y (c)
As demonstrated in Fig. 10(a), seals in the tandem
arrangement are used in rod sealing zone. A step ring and
Fig. 10 Schematics of combined double seal: (a) tandem seals;
an Yx-shaped seal is embedded in the groove of the (b) static contact condition; (c) during operation

123
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

In the liquid region, where l represents the asperity density, An denotes nominal
contact area, R is asperity radius. Due to the existence of
F ¼ 1; FU ¼ P [ 0: contact pressure, there is a shear stress on the rod, and the
While in the cavitation region, asperity related shear stress in sealing zone is computed
F ¼ 0, U\0, P ¼ 0 and k ¼ q=qc ¼ 1 þ U; where k using a dry friction coefficient
denotes mixing ratio of liquid and gas, P stands for U
sc ¼ fpc : ð10Þ
dimensionless pressure, P ¼ p=pa . The boundary condi- jU j
tions are applied to rod sealing zone. In terms of the pri-
mary seal (step ring seal), the fluid pressure at the inner In this investigation, the dry friction coefficient f of step
boundary is equal to the sealed pressure, while that at the ring and Yx shaped seal is set to 0.1 and 0.25 [26–28],
outer boundary is equal to the pressure at the inner-seal respectively.
region (Fig. 9). For the secondary seal (Yx shaped seal), Based on elastic mechanics theory, the deformation of
the fluid pressure at the inner boundary is equal to the arbitrary point at the contact interface is expressed as
Z
pressure at the inner-seal region, while that at the outer 1  t2 s2
dðxÞ ¼  pf ðsÞlnðx  sÞ2 ds
boundary is equal to the ambient pressure. pE s1
In order to describe the interaction of surface roughness Z ð11Þ
1 þ t s2
and fluid, the ratio, dimensionless average film thickness  pf ðsÞds þ C;
pE s1
H ¼ h=r is introduced. The dimensionless average local
film thickness is defined by where s is the additional coordinate, pf ðsÞ stands for arbi-
Z 1 trary load applied to the seal, C is a constant, t is Poisson’s
H¼ ðH þ dÞf ðdÞdd; ð6Þ ratio of the seal. It is assumed that the micro-deformation
h of the asperities on the sealing interface does not affect
where f ðdÞ is the probability density function of d, usually large deformation of the seal. Thus the load balance con-
a Gaussian distribution is employed. dition is given by
Z xe Z xe
The fluid related shear stress on the rod [26, 27] in psc ðxÞdx  fpðxÞ þ pc ðxÞgdx ¼ 0: ð12Þ
sealing zone can be computed from x0 x0

rpa 1 f   H oFP The first term of Eq. (12) stands for supporting load
sf ¼  ð /  /fss þ /fpp Þ; ð7Þ contributed by static contact pressure distribution (mounted
li g^ H f 2 o^x
& pressured), the second term deviates bearing capacity
where g^ stands for dimensionless fluid viscosity, g^ ¼ g=g0 , caused by fluid pressure and dynamic contact pressure
x^ is dimensionless axial coordinate x^ ¼ x=li , li ði ¼ 1; 2Þ is distribution.
the length of sealing zone. f is dimensionless rod velocity, Then, the normal deformation of seal lip is computed as
Z
f ¼ g0 Uli pa r2 . /f , /fss and /fpp are shear stress factors, 1  t2 s 2
dðxÞ ¼  fpðsÞ þ pc ðsÞ  psc ðsÞglnðx  sÞ2 ds
which are obtained from literature [26, 32], E denotes pE s1
Young’s modulus of the seal. Z
1 þ t s2
 fpðsÞ þ pc ðsÞ  psc ðsÞgds:
pE s1
3.1.2 Contact Mechanics ð13Þ
Taking the load balance Eq. (12) into consideration, the
The contacting pressure is computed by using the Green-
deformation of the seal lip in Eq. (13) yields
wood-Williamson surface contact model [33]. In this Z s2
1  t2
model, all the asperities are termed as a collection of dðxÞ ¼  fpðsÞ þ pc ðsÞ  psc ðsÞglnðx  sÞ2 ds: ð14Þ
pE s1
spherical caps having the same radius of curvature R. The
contact area Ar and contact pressure pc are given by The film thickness Hi at the ith nodes is expressed in the
Z 1  2 form of
1 z Hi ¼ Hs þ dðxÞ=r; ð15Þ
Ar ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi plAn Rr ðz  HÞexp  dz; ð8Þ
2p H 2
Z 1  2 where Hs is hypothetical dry film thickness, which is
4 E 1 3 3 z obtained from Ref. [27].
pc ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi lR 2 r2 ðz  HÞ 2 exp  dz; ð9Þ
3 2p 1  t2 H 2

123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

Instantaneous transport rate is given by 3.3 Viscous Shear of Oil on Rod in Chamber
/x 3 oP  þ /s Þ:
q^ ¼  H þ 6fðH ð16Þ In chambers of the cylinder, pressure gradient in the
g^ o^
x
direction of rod path is not considered, i.e.,
For the tandem seals, the mass flow rate must be the
op
same for the inner and outer seal [34, 35], i.e., ¼ 0: ð23Þ
ox
q^inner ¼ q^outer ; ð17Þ
Therefore, the viscous shear stress on the rod is
which is different from that of single seal case. described as
Through the above analysis, the tandem seal related g
friction force is then calculated from sv ¼ U : ð24Þ
hv
ZZ
Ft ¼ ðsf þ sc Þdxdy: ð18Þ where hv stands for the distance between the rod and the
At cylinder block. And the friction force generated from the
viscous shear of fluid is expressed as
ZZ
3.2 Auxiliary Sealing Zone
Fv ¼ sv dxdy: ð25Þ
Av
As illustrated in Fig. 9 (b), the back-up ring in the
Thus, the viscous damping coefficient of the actuator
hydraulic cylinder is used to eliminate direct contact of the
takes the form
surfaces of piston and cylinder block. Besides, it gives ZZ ZZ ZZ 
support to the linear motion of the piston. Experiments 1

sb
y¼0 dxdy þ
_ _
B¼ ðsf þ sc Þdxdy þ sv dxdy :
have shown that the pressure at the inter-seal region can be U At Aa Av

larger than the system pressure, which is harmful to the ð26Þ

sealing performance. However, the back-up ring arranged
between the primary and secondary seal can prevent
excessive inter-seal pressure from happening. Starting with 3.4 Numerical Treatment
the elasto-hydrodynamic aspects of the back-up ring, the
Reynolds equation is expressed as In order to facilitate the discussion and get a better
!   understanding of the problem, parameters are reduced via
o qh^3 o^p o qh^ nondimensionalization method. Eq. (4) is then expressed as
¼ 6ðua þ ub Þ ; ð19Þ  
ox g o x ox o /x 3 oP o 
H ¼ 6f ðH þ /s Þ; ð27Þ
where h^ is the local film thickness between the ring and the o^x g^ o^x o^
x
rod, p^ represents the local pressure of the fluid film. where P stands for dimensionless pressure distribution
The film thickness is presented as along the width of the sealing region, P ¼ p=pa , pa is
Z xe ambient pressure.
2
h^ ¼ h^0  0 p^ðsÞlnðs  xÞ2 ds; ð20Þ Eq. (19) is given by
pE x0
   
o oP o q^H^
where h^0 is the sum of the film thickness ( x ¼ 0) and e ¼ ; ð28Þ
absolute term of elastic deformation of the ring, the second ^
ox ox ^ ^
ox
term of Eq. (14) represents the normal deformation of the where H ^ denotes dimensionless average film thickness
ring surface and E’ denotes the equivalent elastic modulus between the backup ring and rod, P is dimensionless
of backup ring. pressure distribution along the width of the backup ring. q^
The viscous shear stress of fluid film can be expressed as is dimensionless fluid mass density, q^ ¼ q=q0 .
1 o^
p ^ þ ðub  ua Þ g ; Numerical finite difference method is used in the solu-
sb ¼ ð2
y  hÞ ð21Þ
2 o
x h^ tion of Eqs. (27) and (28). The computational procedure is
illustrated in Fig. 11, and it consists of three parts, as
where p^ stands for fluid pressure between the rod and
presented above. In the solution of tandem seal lubrication,
backup ring.
finite element analysis (Figs. 12 and 13) is conducted in
Therefore, the auxiliary-seal related friction force on the
order to obtain initial contact pressure and contact length.
rod is obtained from
ZZ The material model to describe incompressible material

is changed to Mooney-Rivlin model, which is used in
Fa ¼ sb
y¼0 dxdy: ð22Þ
Aa various publications regarding O-ring simulation. In the

123
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

Fig. 11 Computational Tandem seal calculation

procedure Determination of initial parameters,
based on national &industry standard Back-up ring calculation
Initial parameters,
Finite element (mounteded &pressured),
based on national &industry standard
initial guess

Fluid mechanics analysis

Fluid mechanics analysis

Contact mechanics analysis

Back-up ring deformation

Update film Seal deformation Update film
N
N Converged
Converged
Viscous shear of fluid
Update inter-region pressure Y Y
Parameters
determination
N Flow rate
matchs
Viscous shear
Y
calculation

Viscous damping
coefficient

Fig. 12 Mises elastic strain of

step ring with pressure
variation:(a) 5 MPa; (b) 8
MPa; (c) 10 MPa; (d) 15 MPa

element model, the mesh of O-ring was created using
element type Quad 4node 182, which is suitable for large
deformation analysis. Next, a contact model is imple-
mented using contact elements CONTACT172 and CON-
TACT169. The elastic deformation of step ring under
different magnitude of pressures is investigated. The pro-
cedure is the same for static mechanics analysis of the
secondary seal (Figs. 13 and 14).
Since fluid mechanics analysis, contact mechanics
analysis and seal deformation are strongly coupled, an
iteration procedure is conducted. In every loop, both
pressure and film thickness are updated until the flow
rate of step ring and Yx shaped seal matches. For the
calculation of back-up ring, fluid mechanics analysis and
elastic deformation are adjusted to film thickness
updating for the sake of converged pressure. After the

123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

Fig. 13 Mises elastic strain of

Yx shaped seal with pressure
variation: (a) 1 MPa; (b) 2 MPa;
(c) 3 MPa; (d) 4 MPa

(2) GB/T 2879-2005/ISO 5597:1987: Cylinder housing

Fig. 14 Contact pressure on seal/rod interface with sealed pressure
variation
above calculation, the viscous damping coefficient is
obtained.
Note that the geometry and finite model established for
rod, housing, seal, the gap between cylinder block and rod,
etc., in Section 3 is based upon national and industry
for piston and rod seals in reciprocating applications-
Dimensions and tolerances;
(3) GB/T 15242.1-94: Cylinder rod and piston seals for
reciprocating applications of co-axial seals-Dimen-
sions and tolerances;
(4) GB/T 15242.2-94; Cylinder rod and piston seals for
reciprocating applications of bearing rings-Dimen-
sions and tolerances;
(5) GB/T 15242.3-94; Cylinder rod and piston seals for
reciprocating applications of co-axial seals-Dimen-
sions and tolerances of housings;
(6) GB/T 15242.4-94; Cylinder rod and piston seals for
reciprocating applications of bearing rings-Dimen-
sions and tolerances of housings;
(7) JB/ZQ 4265-2006: Yx type seals used for shaft;
For the fluid analysis involved in the numerical com-
putation, eP and eH are defined as relative error of pressures
and film thickness between successive iteration, as shown
in Eqs. (29) and (30):
PN

standard of China, which is listed as follows:

ðkþ1Þ ðkÞ

Pi  Pi

i¼1
(1) GB/T 3542.1-2005/ISO 3601-1:2002, MOD: O rings  eP ; ð29Þ
PN
ðkþ1Þ
Part1: Inside diameters, cross-sections, tolerances Pi
i¼1
and size identification code;

123
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators

squares method and the estimated parameters are shown

in Table 2.
In Fig. 16, it is presented that the simulated viscous
damping coefficient decreases with the increasing of rod
velocity. However, when increasing chamber pressure from
8.0 MPa to 10.0 MPa (increasing the load directly) under
one steady state velocity, the viscous coefficient decreases
drastically, and the similar trend can be seen in the mea-
surement of Section 2.
Fig. 17 shows the effect of sealed pressure on static
contact stress and contact length of step ring. The maxi-
mum static contact stress when increasing the sealed
pressure from 2.0 MPa to 5.0 MPa. However, after the
Fig. 15 Viscous damping coefficient of a typical cylinder with chamber pressure reaches 5.0 MPa, the maximum static
velocity variations and pressure: measured and simulated results contact stress decreases, indicating that the increasing of
sealed pressure does not lead to tighter contact between
N

seal lip and the rod due to the structure characteristics of
P
ðkþ1Þ ðkÞ

Hi  Hi
the step ring. Thus, the friction behavior can be different
i¼1 from that of piston type cylinder, as is shown in Section 2.
 eH ; ð30Þ
P
N
ðkþ1Þ Thus, the value of viscous damping coefficient varies with
Hi
i¼1 the seal type employed by hydraulic actuators. The film
thickness distribution of step ring and back-up ring for the
where k denotes the previous iteration and k þ 1 stands for
outstroke are shown in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19. Note that the
the current iteration results.
film thickness is dimensionless. It is shown in Fig. 18 that
as the sealed pressure of the cylinder chamber increases,
the average film thickness increases in the sealing interface
4 Results and Discussion
which leads to the phenomenon of Figs. 7 and 16.
In Fig. 19, it seems that the magnitude of the film
Fig. 15 compares the viscous damping coefficient of a
thickness changes little along the direction of motion on the
typical cylinder calculated by the methodology adopted in
whole for different velocities. Fig. 20 shows the back-up
this investigation and that of measured under the pressure
ring related viscous damping coefficient with the variation
of 6.0 MPa. It is demonstrated that the coefficient decrease
of velocities. Increasing the velocity from 0.5 mm/s to 3.0
with the increasing of velocity. The measured results agree
mm/s, leads to the decrease of the coefficient, which is
with the simulated results very well. Also, a asymptote of
similar to the trend of experimental data as presented in
this coefficient is observed, and it can be explained by
Section 2. In terms of viscous shear for chamber related,
Eq. (31), which is derivated from Stribeck model, i.e.,
the results come to the constant value of 41.72, since it has
1  
B¼ Fc þ ðFs  Fc Þ exp ðv=vs Þd þ r2 ; ð31Þ nothing to do with velocity, which can be deduced from
v Eq. (24).
where Fs ; Fc ; r2 are both constants. The first term of It can be deduce from Figs. 15 and 20 that, the viscous
Eq. (31) approaches zero when increasing velocity of rod, resistance mainly stems from tandem seal, and the viscous
i.e., B approaches r2 gradually. Base on the experimental shear in chamber and back-up ring related viscous damping
data obtained in Section 2, the parameters are identified coefficient can be neglected during engineering
by using the GA (Genetic Algorithm) optimized least- calculations.

Table 2 Static friction parameters at different pressures of hydraulic actuator

Pressure Maximum static Coulomb friction Exponent d Stribeck velocity Viscous friction coefficient
p/MPa friction force FS /N force FC /N vs /(mm  s1 ) r2 /(104 N  s  m1 )

0.6 2100 1419 2 1.5 1.1

2.0 1900 800 1.2 1.9 1.0
4.0 1100 362.8 1.3 2.2 1.3
6.0 1100 300 2 1.2 1.6

123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

Fig. 16 Simulated viscous damping coefficient for sealed pressure

8.0 MPa and 10.0 MPa
Fig. 19 Film distribution of back-up ring with velocity variations:
(a) 0.5 mm/s; (b) 1.0 mm/s; (c) 3.0 mm/s

Fig. 20 Back-up ring related viscous damping coefficient

Fig. 17 Effect of sealed pressure on static contact stress and contact
length 5 Conclusions

(1) For the plunger type hydraulic cylinder, increasing

the velocity lead to decreasing VDC under the
pressure ranging from 0.6 MPa to 6.0 MPa. And the
exponential model B ¼ atb ; ða [ 0; b [ 0Þ or
B ¼ a1 eb1 t þ a2 eb2 t ða1 ; a2 [ 0; b1 ; b2 [ 0Þ, fits
the relation between the VDC and velocities for a
given pressure of chamber with a good accuracy.
(2) For piston hydraulic cylinder, larger chamber pressure
leads to higher value of viscous damping coefficient.
However, the effects of pressure on the viscous damping
coefficient demonstrate opposite characteristics com-
pared with that of plunge type hydraulic actuator.
(3) The effects of pressure and velocity on viscous
damping coefficient of the plunger type hydraulic
cylinder have been investigated numerically based
Fig. 18 Film thickness distribution of step ring with pressure upon the proposed method. The viscous damping
variations
coefficient decreases with the increasing of steady state

123
Theoretical Investigation of the Viscous Damping Coefficient of Hydraulic Actuators
velocities, and an asymptote of this coefficient is
observed. The simulated results of viscous damping
coefficient agree with the measured results very well.
(4) The magnitude of viscous damping coefficient varies
with the sealing type employed by hydraulic actu-
ators. And the viscous damping coefficient of piston
cylinder remains to be studied.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to extend our sincere
thanks to Professor Xia Yimin and Xie Jinghua of Central South
University, who have offered great help in the experimental tests.
Also, the authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Guo Fei
of Tsinghua University and Dr. Zeng Lei for his help in this work.
References
1. X Kong, B A Kaixian, Y U Bin, et al. Force control compensation
method with variable load stiffness and damping of the hydraulic
drive unit force control system. Chinese Journal of Mechanical
Engineering, 2016, 29(3): 454–464.
2. X Zhao, S Zhang, C Zhou, et al. Experimental study of hydraulic
cylinder leakage and fault feature extraction based on wavelet
packet analysis. Computers & Fluids, 2014, 106: 33–40.
3. E Liceaga-castro, E M Navarro-lopez, R Garcia-aguilar, et al.
Slow-motion control of an unloaded hydraulic robot arm. Pre-
cision Engineering, 2012, 36(3): 388–398.
4. A Ylinen, H Mariamaki, J Makinen. A hydraulic cylinder model
for multibody simulations. Computers & Structures, 2014,
138(138): 62–72.
5. M Karpenko, N Sepehri. On quantitative feedback design for
robust position control of hydraulic actuators. Control Engi-
neering Practice, 2010, 18(3): 289–299.
6. V Milic, Z Situm, M Essert. Robust H? position control syn-
thesis of an electro-hydraulic servo system. ISA Transactions,
2010, 49(4): 535–542.
7. Y Pi, X Wang. Trajectory tracking control of a 6DOF hydraulic
parallel robot manipulator with uncertain load disturbance.
Control Engineering Practice, 2011, 19(2): 185–193.
8. H Yang, J Yang, B Xu. Computational simulation and experi-
mental research on speed control of VVVF hydraulic elevator.
Control Engineering Practice, 2004, 12(5): 563–568.
9. V V Burenin. Computing the damping coefficients of hydraulic
cylinders. Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, 1985, 21(7): 323–326.
10. Y Qian, G Ou, A Maghareh, et al. Parametric identification of a
servo-hydraulic actuator for real-time hybrid simulation. Me-
chanical Systems & Signal Processing, 2014, 48(s1–2): 260–273.
11. Y Chinniah, R Burton, S Habibi. Viscous damping coefficient and
effective bulk modulus estimation in a high performance hydro-
static actuation system using extended Kalman filter. Interna-
tional Journal of Fluid Power, 2014, 4(3): 27–34.
12. B Armstrong-helouvry. Control of machines with friction.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
13. B Armstrong-helouvry, P Dupont, D W C Canudas. A survey of
models, analysis tools and compensation methods for the control
of machines with friction. Automatica, 1994, 30(7): 1083–1138.
14. L Marton, S Fodor, N Sepehri. A practical method for friction
identification in hydraulic actuators. Mechatronics, 2011, 21(1):
350–356.
15. D W C Canudas, H Olsson, K J Astrom, P Lischinsky. A new
model for control of systems with friction. IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control, 1995, 40(3): 419–425.
16. D Karnopp. Computer simulation of stick-Slip friction in
mechanical dynamic systems. Journal of Dynamic Systems
Measurement & Control, 1985, 107(1): 100–103.
17. H Yanada, Y Sekikawa. Modeling of dynamic behaviors of
friction. Mechatronics, 2008, 18(7): 330–339.
18. B T Xuan, N Hafizah, H Yanada. Modeling of dynamic friction
behaviors of hydraulic cylinders. Mechatronics, 2012, 22(1):65-75.
19. V Lampaert, J Swevers, F Al-bender. Modification of the Leuven
integrated friction model structure. IEEE Transactions on Auto-
matic Control, 2002, 47(4): 683–687.
20. F Al-bender, V Lampaert, J Swevers. The generalized Maxwell-slip
model: a novel model for friction Simulation and compensation.
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2005, 50(11): 1883–1887.
21. H Ouyang, J E Motterrshead, M P Cartmell, et al. Friction-in-
duced parametric resonances in discs: effect of a negative fric-
tion–velocity relationship. Journal of Sound & Vibration, 1998,
209(2): 251–264.
22. L H Wang, B Wu, R Du, et al. Nonlinear dynamic characteristics
of moving hydraulic cylinder. Journal of Mechanical Engineer-
ing, 2007, 43(12): 12–19.
23. A H Nayfeh, A B Balachandran. Applied nonlinear dynamics.
Wiley & Sons, 1995.
24. G K Nikas. Transient elastohydrodynamic lubrication of rectan-
gular elastomeric seals for linear hydraulic actuators. Proceed-
ings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part J: Journal of
Engineering Tribology, 2003, 217(217): 461–473.
25. G K Nikas, R S Sayles. Nonlinear elasticity of rectangular elas-
tomeric seals and its effect on elastohydrodynamic numerical
analysis. Sealing Technology, 2004, 37(8): 651–660.
26. R F Salant, N Maser, B Yang. Numerical model of a recipro-
cating hydraulic rod seal. Journal of Tribology, 2007, 129(1):
577–583.
27. A Thatte, R F Salant. Transient EHL analysis of an elastomeric
hydraulic seal. Tribology International, 2009, 42(10): 1424–1432.
28. A Thatte, R F Salant. Visco-elastohydrodynamic model of a
hydraulic rod seal during transient operation. Journal of Tribol-
ogy, 2010, 132(4): 041501.
29. S W Lo. On the effects of roughness orientation—a mapping and
double scale analysis of flow factors. Journal of Tribology, 1992,
114(4): 747–754.
30. A Z Szeri. Fluid film lubrication. Cambridge University Press,
2011.
31. N Patir, H S Cheng. An average flow model for determining
effects of three-dimensional roughness on partial hydrodynamic
lubrication. Journal of Tribology, 1978, 100(1): 12–17.
32. N Patir, H S Cheng. Application of average flow model to
lubrication between rough sliding surfaces. Journal of Tribology,
1979, 101(2): 95–95.
33. J A Greenwood, J B P Williamson. Contact of nominally flat
surfaces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Math-
ematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. The Royal Society,
1966, 295(1442): 300–319.
34. B Yang, R F Salant. A numerical model of a reciprocating rod
seal with a secondary lip. Tribology Transactions, 2008, 51(2):
119–127.
35. B Yang, R F Salant. Numerical model of a tandem reciprocating
hydraulic rod seal. Journal of Tribology, 2008, 130(3):
1027–1029.
Ming-Hui Huang, born in 1963, is currently a professor and a PhD
candidate supervisor at State Key Laboratory of High Performance
Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, China. His main
research interests include machine design and manufacturing, design
theory, fault diagnosis, and digital manufacturing. E-mail:
meeh@csu.edu.cn
123
 M.-H. Huang et al.

Qing Pan, born in 1988, is currently a PhD candidate at State Key
Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central
South University, China. His research interests include process
modeling and control, integration of design and control of electro-
hydraulic systems. Tel: ?86-15111023006; E-mail:
panqing0905@csu.edu.cn
Yi-Bo Li, born in 1981, is currently an associate professor at State
Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University, China. E-mail: liyibo@csu.edu.cn
Peng-Da Ma, born in 1989, is currently a master candidate at State
Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing,
Central South University, China. E-mail: mapengda@126.com
Jun Ma, born in 1991, is currently a master candidate at State Key
Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central
South University, China. E-mail: majunl@csu.edu.cn

123