Performance Comparison between an MRF Damper and an MRE Isolator Incorporated with a Building Structure

Abstract

As an important member of smart materials, magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) exhibit characteristics that their modulus can be controlled by an external magnetic field. Based on these experimental results, a viscoelastic solid model with four parameters was proposed to predict the performance of MRE. A building model, three stories high, was constructed using MATLAB SIMULINK to evaluate the performance of an MRE device in structural control. In addition, the performance of an MRF damper and an MRE device in structural control, where the resultant peak force was selected as a criterion in the evaluation process, was compared and discussed. Two controllers, passive on and passive off control strategy were used to compare the response of structure. The effectiveness of an MRE bearing in structural control was well justified.