Bouc–Wen model-based real-time force tracking scheme for MR dampers

A Bouc–Wen model-based control scheme is presented which allows tracking the desired control force in real-time with magnetorheological (MR) dampers without feedback from a force sensor. The control scheme estimates the MR damper force by parallel computing of several Bouc–Wen models with different constant currents as inputs and for the actual MR damper displacement and velocity, respectively. Based on the estimated forces and the desired control force the MR damper current is determined by a piecewise linear interpolation scheme. The model-based feed-forward control scheme is numerically and experimentally validated. If the desired control force is not constrained by the pre-yield region, residual force at 0 A and force at maximum current, the very small force tracking error ≤0.0015 in the simulation is caused by the control-oriented simplification of the linear interpolation scheme. The tests reveal that the real-time control scheme is numerically stable and the force tracking error of ≤0.078 represents an acceptable accuracy. (paper)