Feasibility Study of Passive Electromagnetic

Damping Systems
Rogelio Palomera-Arias, A.M.ASCE1; Jerome J. Connor, F.ASCE2; and John A. Ochsendorf3

Abstract: A linear displacement electromagnetic machine is proposed to be used as a passive structural damper. The electromagnetic
damper extracts the kinetic energy imparted into the structure by wind or seismic disturbances by transforming it into electricity and
induces a force that opposes the movement produced by the disturbance. It is shown that the force-velocity relationship of the electro-
magnetic damper approximates that of an ideal dashpot with a time delay caused by the circuit reactance. A feasibility analysis is
presented to demonstrate the physical and economical viability of the electromagnetic damper as a structural device. The proposed device
presents several advantages over current passive structural dampers, among which are: energy dissipation external to the device; possible
operation as a semiactive damper by modifying the circuit impedance; and possible operation as an actuator by reversing the energy flow
direction.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0733-9445共2008兲134:1共164兲
CE Database subject headings: Damping; Energy; Electrical systems.

Introduction
In recent years, there has been an increased demand for improved
motion performance of buildings and civil structures under dy-
namic loading. Various passive and active strategies exist to con-
trol the structural motion and vibrations induced by earthquake
and wind disturbances.
One passive approach is to modify the physical and geometri-
cal properties of the structures. Another approach is to increase
the energy dissipation capability of the structure in order to coun-
teract the motion disturbances; the greater the energy dissipation,
the smaller the amplitude of the motion generated by the external
excitation. Current passive motion control strategies use materials
and devices 共structural dampers兲 to supplement the inherent
energy dissipation of the structure. These devices dissipate the
kinetic energy imparted into the structure as heat, by inelastic
deformations, or by transferring energy among vibrating modes
共Housner et al. 1997兲. Soong and Dargush 共1997兲 provide an
exhaustive description of current structural damping systems.
Passive systems are relatively simple systems, but have fixed pa-
rameters and are normally tuned to a particular disturbance or
excitation frequency.
1
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil, Construction, and Environment,
Wentworth Institute of Technology, 550 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
02115 共corresponding author兲. E-mail: palomeraariasr@wit.edu
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 1-253, Cambridge, MA
02139.
3
Assistant Professor, Building Technology Program, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Room 5-418, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Note. Associate Editor: Michael D. Symans. Discussion open until
June 1, 2008. Separate discussions must be submitted for individual pa-
pers. To extend the closing date by one month, a written request must be
filed with the ASCE Managing Editor. The manuscript for this paper was
submitted for review and possible publication on December 30, 2004;
approved on June 26, 2007. This paper is part of the Journal of Struc-
tural Engineering, Vol. 134, No. 1, January 1, 2008. ©ASCE, ISSN
0733-9445/2008/1-164–170/$25.00.
Motion control using active strategies involve the use of sen-
sors to monitor the state of the structure and nature of the exci-
tation and actuator to provide the necessary forces to minimize
the effects of the dynamic loads 共Connor 2003兲. These systems
might provide better, and broader, disturbance rejection than pas-
sive systems; however, they are complex systems that unlike
passive systems require an external power source to mitigate the
effects of the disturbances. Also, they are susceptible to control-
induced instability. Semiactive devices have been proposed to
address some of the limitations of passive systems without the
energy requirements of active systems. Semiactive devices are
passive devices whose parameters can be changed according to
changes in the nature of the disturbance 共Jalili 2002兲.
The present paper proposes that an electromagnetic machine
can be used as a passive structural damper. Given that the dis-
placements in a building structure are usually evidenced as trans-
lational motion, a linear displacement machine is proposed to be
used as an electromagnetic damper. This device would convert the
translational kinetic energy into electric energy while providing a
reaction force to the displacement imparted on the structure. Con-
verting the energy into electricity, rather than dissipating it
directly as heat, has the advantage that the dissipation can be
performed outside the machine, thus reducing the problems nor-
mally associated with self-heating of viscous and friction damp-
ers, such as the variability of the device parameters 共Makris
1998兲. Another advantage of an electromagnetic machine over
current structural dampers is the possibility of using the same
machine as part of an active control system. Movement and force
are produced when electrical energy is applied to the machine.
Furthermore, since the properties of the electromagnetic damper
can be adjusted by changing the impedance of the circuit con-
nected to it, the electromagnetic damper could also be used as a
semiactive damper. Using an electric machine as a structural
damper presents several design challenges due to the large force
output requirements operating at low frequencies and small dis-
placements, while also meeting the size constraints dictated by
the structure where they are installed.
This paper provides a short literature review on the use of

164 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008

electromagnetic dampers, followed by a presentation of the basic
principles on which the electromagnetic damper is based, which
demonstrates that in its simplest of configurations, the electro-
magnetic damper behaves as an ideal dashpot whose damping
coefficient depends on the geometric, magnetic, and electric prop-
erties of the device. A topology and a simplified model are then
proposed for the structural damper followed by the results from
numerical examples of electromagnetic damper designs that dem-
onstrate the feasibility of the device for use within buildings,
Finally, the behavior and practical considerations of the electro-
magnetic damper are discussed and conclusions are presented.
Literature Review
Electromechanical machines in civil structures have traditionally
been used as force actuators, that is, as active devices that trans-
form electrical energy into mechanical movement. These actua-
tors are normally part of an active control system used to mitigate
the effects of disturbances 共Housner et al. 1997兲. Their use as
passive dampers in structures has not been studied beyond the
application of eddy current dampers for the suppression of struc-
tural vibrations limited to small scale structures, such as beams
and thin membranes 共Sodano and Bae 2004兲. Eddy current damp-
ers are electromagnetic devices that dissipate energy as heat, like
typical dampers, on a conductor moving inside a magnetic field.
Their effectiveness on large scale civil structures under earth-
quake or low-frequency wind excitation has not been studied yet.
Electromechanical dampers, other than eddy current dampers,
have been studied mostly as regenerative devices in active motion
and vibration control systems. These regenerative devices are
actuators that serve a dual purpose in the system depending on its
state: 共1兲 they counteract the disturbance using energy from an
energy source or energy storage device; and 共2兲 they transfer
energy from the disturbance to the energy storage device. Regen-
erative damping has been studied mostly for vehicle applications,
but a number of studies have focused on their possible application
to civil structures. Nerves 共1996兲 studied the feasibility of using
regenerative electric actuators to provide active control of civil
structures. In this study, the energy recovered by the regenerative
element is used to reduce the peak oscillations in the structure due
to wind and earthquake forces. The author simulated a single-
degree-of-freedom structure, a fixed-base multistory structure,
and a base-isolated multistory structure with a hybrid mass
damper as the intermediary for the energy transfer between the
structure and the regenerative electric actuator. A brushless direct
current 共dc兲 machine was proposed as the regenerative actuator to
be coupled to the hybrid mass damper. Scruggs 共1999兲 analyzed
the use of a proof-mass actuator as a regenerative actuator for the
mitigation of earthquake disturbances in civil structures. He stated
that with the proper control system, it is possible to mitigate a
disturbance using mostly energy extracted from it. Vujic 共2002兲
studied feedback control strategies that will improve the energy
efficiency of an active isolation system by providing electrical
energy regeneration. Piezoelectric stack and linear electromag-
netic 共voice-coil兲 actuators were used to model the isolation
system. Energy regeneration was approached as a closed-loop
control problem which was then solved to optimize regeneration.
Nagem et al. 共1995兲 proposed an electromechanical vibration ab-
sorber as a way of overcoming the disadvantages of conventional
mechanical vibration absorbers. In this concept, the secondary
mechanical oscillator in the absorber is replaced by an electrome-
chanical transducer 共voice-coil兲 and a resonant electrical circuit
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008 / 165
Fig. 1. Simplified linear electromagnetic damper
共Series RLC circuit兲. The system was tested experimentally using
a model vibrating cantilever beam and was shown to dramatically
reduce the vibration amplitude near the beam resonance fre-
quency. Iiyama et al. 共1998兲 proposed a mechatro damper that
consisted of a ball screw mechanism and rotational generator, and
showed its effect on the seismic response reduction. While each
of these studies proposed new possibilities for regenerative damp-
ing, researchers have not focused on the application of linear
electromechanical machines as passive structural dampers, which
is the new contribution of the current paper. Furthermore this
paper presents a feasibility analysis of the electromagnetic
damper based on physical and economical considerations.
Basic Principles of Electromagnetic Dampers
Faraday’s law of induction states that “the induced electromotive
force 共voltage E兲 is proportional to the time rate of change of the
magnetic flux 共⌽m兲 through the circuit” 共Serway 1986兲. This is
expressed as
d⌽m
E=− 共1兲
dt
where the magnetic flux through an arbitrarily shaped surface is
given by
⌽m = 冕 Bជ · dA
ជ 共2兲
where Bជ ⫽magnetic field through the surface; and dA ជ ⫽vector per-
pendicular to the surface whose magnitude⫽area element dA.
The magnetic force Fជ generated on a small current carrying
conductor segment of length dlជ in the presence of a magnetic field
Bជ is quantified by Lorentz law and is given by
ជ = Idlជ ⫻ Bជ
dF 共3兲
Consider the situation where a straight conductor 共Fig. 1兲 is mov-
ing at a constant velocity through a constant magnetic field along
two parallel conducting rails. For simplicity, assume that the mov-
ing bar and rails have zero resistance, and that all the resistance in
the circuit is provided by an external load resistor Rload. Based on
the definition of Eq. 共2兲, the external magnetic flux through the
circuit depicted by Fig. 1 is
⌽m = Blx 共4兲
where l⫽length of the bar; x⫽position of the bar; and their prod-
uct lx⫽area enclosing the magnetic flux. Applying Eq. 共1兲, the
induced electromotive force E on the circuit when the bar moves
at a relative velocity v is given by
d
E=− Blx = − Blv 共5兲
dt
 Based on the assumption that the circuit has a total electrical
resistance Rload, the current through the circuit is found using
Ohm’s law

E Blv
I= =− 共6兲
Rload Rload
which flows in the presence of a magnetic field; therefore a mag-
netic force will be generated opposing the movement of the bar. Fig. 2. Configurations of permanent-magnet machine
This force is calculated by substituting the result of Eq. 共6兲 into
Eq. 共3兲 and integrating over the length of the bar. The result of
these operations is given by
From the different geometric arrangements available for linear
共Bl兲2 machines, a tubular arrangement is favored over a planar one. The
F= v 共7兲
Rload cylindrical machine is mechanically more rugged than the flat
machine since all the components are enclosed inside a piston-
From this equation, the following observations are made:
like structure. Stray magnetic fields and parasitic forces, due to
1. The force is directly proportional to the relative velocity of
the attraction between the permanent magnets and the metallic
the moving bar. That is, the force-velocity equation is similar
components of the machine, normal to the direction of travel of
to that of an ideal dashpot;
the mover are minimized, if not eliminated, due to the longitudi-
2. The damping coefficient is a function of the magnetic, elec-
nal axial symmetry of the device. Finally, for similar sizes, the
tric, and geometric parameters of the device and is given by
force density attainable by the tubular machines is greater than
that of planar machines 共Eastham 1990兲. Two general configura-
共Bl兲2
c= 共8兲 tions of the tubular moving permanent magnet machine are con-
Rload sidered: the radial magnetization and the axial magnetization
3. The kinetic energy imposed on the device is converted into types shown in Fig. 3. In both configurations, the stator 共station-
electric energy. The electrical energy is then dissipated in the ary component of the machine兲 holds the armature windings
load resistor as heat. which are simple cylindrical coils 共Wang et al. 1999兲. The time
Consequently, from the structural point of view, the simplified varying magnetic flux needed to induce the working electromo-
electromagnetic damper behaves as an ideal dashpot whose tive force 共emf兲 is generated as the mover displaces relative to the
damping coefficient is dependent on the electrical load resistance, stator.
the magnetic field intensity, and the length of the bar. On the other In the radial magnetization machine, permanent magnet rings
hand, from the electrical point of view, the electromagnetic polarized in the radial direction are placed on the mover so that
damper behaves as a voltage source whose magnitude is depen- the outside ring polarities alternate in the axial direction. To sim-
dent on the magnetic field intensity, the length of the conductor, plify construction, slightly curved surface mounted rectangular
and the velocity of the bar. permanent magnets can be utilized instead of the ring magnets
described. In the axial magnetization machine the magnets are
mounted with the poles face to face with ferromagnetic cylindri-
Machine Topology cal pole shoes placed between them to lead the magnetic field
over the air gap and into the stator. Wang et al. 共2001兲 performed
As it is shown in the previous section, an electromagnetic genera- a comparison of the different tubular configurations, finding that
tor can be regarded as a mechanical damper that converts kinetic the axially magnetized machine has a higher force density than
energy into electric energy. In order to simplify the mechanical the radial magnetization machine for the same outer radius of the
interface between the damper and the structure a linear machine is armature winding, however at the expense of larger volumes of
proposed over a more common rotational machine. Linear elec- magnetic material. When the magnetic material is constrained to
tromechanical machines are classified based on how the magnetic the same volume, their force densities are similar.
field and the changing magnetic flux through the coils are pro-
duced: 共1兲 synchronous; 共2兲 induction; and 共3兲 permanent magnet
machines 共Boldea and Nasar 1997兲.
For our purposes, a permanent magnet device is chosen be-
cause no external source is needed to convert the kinetic energy
into electrical energy. The working magnetic field is created using
permanent magnets mounted either on the mover or the armature
of the generator. The magnetic flux is changed by varying the
magnetic field across the coils, or by changing the permeability
of the space in the magnetic field. There are three general
configurations of permanent magnet machines: 共1兲 moving coil
关Fig. 2共a兲兴; 共2兲 moving iron 关Fig. 2共b兲兴; and 共3兲 moving magnet
关Fig. 2共c兲兴. As a structural damper, the moving magnet configu-
ration seems the more suitable of the three because it can achieve
higher forces than the moving iron machine for the same machine
volume 共Arshad et al. 2002兲, and unlike the moving coil machine, Fig. 3. Configurations of permanent magnets on tubular machine
it requires no electrical connection to the mover. mover

166 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008

 Fig. 5. Dimensional parameters of electromagnetic damper

Fig. 4. Prototype electromagnetic damper

d
E=− 共Bg2␲rx兲 = − 2␲Bgrv 共9兲
dt
Since there are pNa turns connected in series that are being linked
Tubular Electromagnetic Damper Model by the air gap magnetic flux, the total open circuit voltage Vemf
induced in the damper coils is
The electromagnetic equations presented previously, Eqs. 共1兲–共3兲,
are applied to a linear moving magnet tubular machine like the Vemf = 2␲pNaBgrv = Ktv 共10兲
one shown in Fig. 4 in order to derive its analytical model and The term Kt = 2␲pNaBgr is known as the voltage or emf constant
quantify the damping coefficient of the electromagnetic damper of the machine and has units in the SI system of V s / m.
given the geometric, magnetic, and electric characteristics of the Lorentz law 关Eq. 共3兲兴 in integral form is used to calculate the
device. The simplified electromechanical model of the tubular force F exerted on the mover due to a current icirc flowing through
electromagnetic damper is derived for the case of axial magnets; pNa active coils

however similar equations would be obtained for the case of ra-
dial magnets. The dimensional and magnetic parameter of the
electromagnetic damper used for the model derivation are de-
scribed in Table 1 and illustrated in Fig. 5.
The open circuit induced voltage in the coils is found using
Faraday’s law and the magnetic flux equations, Eqs. 共1兲 and 共2兲,
applied to a single coil such that it overlaps the mover pole shoe,
and therefore the working air gap flux Bg, by a distance x in the
axial direction
冕
F = pNa icircdlជ ⫻ Bជ g = 2␲rpNaBgicirc = Kticirc 共11兲
In the above equation dlជ is tangential to the coil and B
ជ is mag-
g
netic flux density through the coil in the radial direction, thus
perpendicular to the coil. The term Kt is known in this case as the
force constant of the machine, and has the same numerical value
as the voltage constant, but with units expressed as N/A.

Table 1. Dimensional and Magnetic Parameter of Electromagnetic Damper

Name Symbol Description
Pole pitch ␶p The distance between adjacent pole shoes or radial magnets
Magnet length ␶m Actual length of the magnets
Pole shoe width ␶f The width of the pole shoes: ␶ f = ␶ p − ␶m
Air gap thickness g The distance between the mover and the armature windings
Number of poles p Even number of poles in the machine
Coil height hw Height of the coils in the armature
Coil width ␶w Width of each coil in the armature
Wire radius rw Radius of the coil wire
Coil turns Nw Number of turns on each coil
Active coil turns Na Turns on each coil intercepted by the pole shoe flux
Mover radius rm Radius to the outside surface of the magnets or pole pieces
Armature radius ri Radius to the inside surface of the armature
Stator yoke radius rs Radius to the inside surface of the stator yoke or shell
Machine radius re Radius to the outer surface of the armature or stator yoke
Yoke thickness hy The thickness of the armature shell
Permeability ␮0 Permeability of free space, a constant
Relative permeability ␮Fe Relative permeability of iron used
Recoil permeability ␮rec Magnet hysteresis loop slope approximation
Remanence Brem Magnet residual flux density

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 The value of the machine constant Kt depends on the geomet- Table 2. Design Electromagnetic Damper Performance Values Used for
ric and magnetic properties of the machine, and is given by Feasibility Analysis 共N35 Magnet, Air Gap= 0.25 mm兲
Magnet
␲rm2 pNaBrem␶m 共mm兲

冉冉 冊 冊
Kt = 共12兲
␮rec rs 1 ␶ p␶ f Diameter Coefficient Density Damping cost
␶ m␶ f + rm2 ln + + Radius Length 共mm兲 共kN s / m兲 共kN m−1 s / m3兲 共$ / kN sm−1兲
␮0 rm 2␮Fe ␮Fehy共rs + re兲
51 25 128 1.22 1,958 84.15
The detailed derivation of this constant is beyond the scope of 150 50 360 22.3 2,190 79.62
this paper and is presented in Palomera-Arias 共2005兲. This
machine constant determines, together with the electrical circuit
parameters, the force-velocity constitutive relation of the electro- Numerical simulations that varied the parameters on Eqs. 共12兲
magnetic damper. and 共15兲 showed that electromagnetic dampers should be
The device can be modeled on the electric side as an ideal capable of achieving a damping density of approximately
voltage source in series with an inductor 共coil inductance兲 and a 2,000 kN m−1 s / m3 using grade N35 neodymium magnets and
resistor 共coil resistance兲, therefore the current 共Icirc兲 and the in- approximately 3,000 kN m−1 s / m3 when using grade N55 neody-
duced emf E are related by a first-order differential equation 共the mium magnets. These limits are for a damper with no-load resis-
load is purely resistive兲 tance, that is, short-circuit coil conditions. An increase of the load
resistance decreases the damping density and energy dissipation
dIcirc
E = 共Rcoil + Rload兲Icirc + Lcoil 共13兲 capability of the machine as evidenced by Eq. 共15兲.
dt Two damper designs with N35 neodymium magnets and an air
The solution Icirc of Eq. 共13兲, and therefore the value of the gap of only 0.25 mm were compared to the performance of actual
reaction force using Eq. 共11兲, depends on the form of the velocity viscous fluid dampers installed in the San Bernardino County
function, v. Assuming that the velocity profile has a sinusoidal Medical Center, circa 1994, and in Los Angeles City Hall seismic
form v = v̂ cos共␻t兲, the corresponding current and force response retrofit project, circa 2001 共Asher et al. 1996; Rasmussen 1997兲.
can be obtained. Solving for the current using Eq. 共13兲 and sub- The first electromagnetic damper design uses a magnet with di-
stituting into Eq. 共11兲, the force on the damper is mensions that can be manufactured using current technology,
while the second design uses a magnet radius beyond current
Rcoil+Rload K2t manufacturing limits. The magnet lengths were chosen such as to
F = IKte−
冑共Rcoil + Rload兲2 + 共␻Lcoil兲2 v̂ cos共␻t + ␾兲
t
Lcoil + maximize the performance measures 共higher damping density兲
while minimizing the required magnet material 共lower damping
共14兲 cost兲. Table 2 shows the resulting design and performance values
for the electromagnetic dampers with no load resistance. Table 3
where the coefficient I depends on initial conditions.
summarizes the viscous-fluid damper performance measures used
It can be seen that the form of Eq. 共14兲 is similar to that of Eq.
for the comparison between the two damper technologies. The
共7兲 with the addition of a decaying exponential transient term and
viscous-fluid damper performance values were derived from the
a time delay. Assuming that most seismic and wind disturbances
manufacturer specifications by approximating a linear force-
can be represented using steady-state sinusoidal models, the tran-
velocity relationship to the actual viscous-fluid damper nonlinear
sient term can be ignored in the above equation, and the corre-
relationship.
sponding damping coefficient and phase shift 共time delay兲 are
From the numbers in Tables 2 and 3, it can be seen that the
thus given by
electromagnetic dampers using N35 neodymium magnets would
K2t require at least 1.6 times the volume of the fluid damper to
c= 共15兲 achieve the same damping capacity as the dampers used in the
冑共Rcoil + Rload兲2 + 共␻Lcoil兲2 San Bernardino County Medical Center or in the Los Angeles
City Hall base isolation system. Their cost would be slightly over

␾ = tan−1 − 冉 ␻Lcoil
Rcoil + Rload
冊 共16兲
five times higher than that of the fluid dampers. Compared to the
dampers used in the frame of Los Angeles City Hall building,
electromagnetic dampers require over 20 times the volume at
Eqs. 共15兲 and 共16兲 show that the magnitudes of the damping about 32 times the cost.
coefficient and the phase shift angle depend, not only on the sys- The limiting factor in the performance of the electromagnetic
tem components, but also on the frequency of the excitation sig- damper is the currently available permanent magnet technology.
nal. As more powerful magnets are developed, the damping density of
the machine will certainly improve. Also, neodymium permanent

Feasibility Analysis
Table 3. Derived Building Viscous Damper Performance Values Used
Two performance measures are used to asses the feasibility of the for Feasibility Analysis
prototype tubular electromagnetic damper in a building structure: Cost per Damping
共1兲 the damping density, defined as the ratio of damping coeffi- Coefficient unit Density cost
cient to machine volume; and 共2兲 the damping cost, defined as the Damper 共kN s / m兲 共$兲 共kN m−1 s / m3兲 共$kN sm−1兲
estimated dollar price per unit of damping coefficient. The first
San Bernardino 934 14,000 3,192 15.00
value is a measure of the physical viability of the machine for a
Los Angeles isolation 1,051 13,000 4,263 12.37
given damping performance, while the second value is a measure
Los Angeles frame 3,940 10,000 46,217 2.54
of the economic viability of the machine.

168 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008

Fig. 6. Force-velocity curve: varying resistance with fixed inductance Fig. 7. Force-velocity curve: varying inductance with fixed resistance
共diagonal lines represent ideal dashpot approximation兲 共diagonal lines represent ideal dashpot approximation兲

magnets are extremely expensive, due to patent protection on the the device will be dissipated both internally 共as heat on the coil兲
material composition and manufacturing processes. As these pat- and externally 共as heat on the load resistance兲. Fig. 8 shows the
ents expire in the coming years, and magnet production is in- variations in internal and external energy dissipation in the
creased, the cost of a permanent magnet will hopefully be reduced damper as a function of the ratio of load 共external兲 to coil 共inter-
significantly making the electromagnetic damper a cost-effective nal兲 resistance. It can be seen in the figure that as the ratio in-
solution for structural motion control. creases, the total energy dissipation decreases, but the proportion
This analysis illustrates the feasibility of an electromagnetic of energy dissipated externally increases while the internal energy
damping system on a large scale from a physical point of view. dissipation decreases. Maximum energy dissipation occurs when
However, as is the case with many new technologies, the device the coil is short circuited 共no load resistance兲, but all the energy is
might not be economically competitive with current technologies dissipated internally similar to an eddy current damper. When the
at the present time. load and coil resistances are matched, the energy dissipated on the
external load is at a maximum and equals the energy dissipated on
the coil.
Discussion
Advantage of EM Damper
Damper Force-Velocity Relationship
The electromagnetic damper in a building provides flexibility not
Previously, it was shown 关Eqs. 共14兲 and 共15兲兴 that a tubular elec- available with current passive structural dampers. First, the dissi-
tromechanical machine under sinusoidal velocity excitation be-
haves like a dashpot whose coefficient depends on the circuit
impedance and frequency of the velocity excitation. The relation-
ship between the force and the excitation velocity presents a time
delay, or phase shift 关Eq. 共16兲兴 caused by the inductance of the
coil. For a given frequency of excitation, the force velocity curve
is elliptical in shape. The ellipse orientation and shape varies
according to the relative values of inductance and resistance in
the circuit network.
Fig. 6 shows the effect of changing the circuit resistance while
keeping the inductance constant. In Fig. 7 the inductance varies
while the resistance is kept constant. Both figures show that, as
the circuit impedance 共resistance plus inductance兲 becomes more
resistive 共lower relative inductance兲 the ellipse becomes flatter or
shallower, approximating the ideal dashpot curve 共shown in both
figures as a straight line along the ellipse’s major axis兲. Also, as
the total impedance increases, the slope of the ellipse’s major axis
decreases 共i.e., the damping coefficient decreases with higher im-
pedance兲.

Damper Energy Dissipation

The energy 共power兲 dissipation capability of the electromagnetic Fig. 8. Damper energy dissipation as function of load to coil
damper depends on the total circuit resistance. Energy imparted to resistance ratio

JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008 / 169

pation is performed electrically; therefore some of the disturbance
energy can be dumped away from the device reducing the prob-
lems associated with self-heating, such as parameter variations
and even damage to the device, particularly under prolonged
cyclic operation 共Makris 1998兲. Second, the force-velocity char-
acteristic of the electromagnetic damper can be adjusted by
changing the electric circuit parameters, particularly the electric
load connected to the device. In contrast, adjustable fluid based
dampers require specialized electro- or magnetorheological fluids
that change properties by the application of electrical or magnetic
fields; solid based dampers require mechanical adjustments in
order to change their properties 共Spencer et al. 1996兲. Further-
more, the electromagnetic damper could be used as an actuator in
an active control system by reversing the direction of energy flow.
Operation of the damper as an actuator would require the use of
electric drives 共power supplies兲, which are not uncommon equip-
ment in industrial environments, with no physical modifications
to the device. Changing between the different operational modes
共fully passive, semiactive, and active兲 of the electromagnetic
damper could be accomplished by means of simple switching
operations.
Conclusions
This paper has provided the theoretical formulations for an elec-
tromagnetic structural damper. The electromagnetic damper is an
electric machine, thus it provides flexibility not available in con-
ventional passive structural dampers. Besides operating as a pas-
sive damper, the device could also operate as a semiactive device
or as an actuator in an active control system.
A tubular linear moving magnet machine was proposed as the
damper because it is more mechanically rugged than other avail-
able configurations. It was shown that the force-velocity relation-
ship of the electromagnetic damper is elliptical in shape. The
deviations from the ideal linear dashpot characteristic are due to
the coil inductance which introduces a time delay between the
velocity and the reaction force. The damping coefficient and the
time shift are a function of the circuit impedance and the fre-
quency of the excitation.
A feasibility analysis based on numerical simulations was pre-
sented to show the physical and economic viability of the elec-
tromagnetic damper. Under short-circuit conditions the size of the
electromagnetic damper was found to be at least 1.6 times the size
of a viscous fluid damper with similar performance, at about five
times the cost. Performance and cost of electromagnetic damper
is mainly governed by the currently available magnet technology
and its high cost.
Finally, a more refined analytical model and detailed computer
simulations are needed to include the effects of the parameters
neglected in the current model, and to understand the device op-
eration under realistic seismic and wind disturbances.
170 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JANUARY 2008
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