ER fluid dampers and their application in shock mitigation

The objective of the paper is to investigate the application of ER fluid dampers for shock protection of shipboard equipment. Several ER fluid dampers have been considered for this purpose. Dynamic models of these ER fluid dampers have been derived and important design parameters have been identified. A preliminary parametric study has been performed to compare the performance of these ER fluid dampers. A simple two degree of freedom system has been used to investigate the effect of ER fluid dampers on shock/vibration mitigation and their size and power requirement