THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL FLUID IN DYNAMIC SQUEEZE FLOW UNDER CONSTANT VOLTAGE AND CONSTANT FIELD

This paper is concerned with an experimental investigation in which an electrorheological (ER) fluid is applied to control vibration. The fl uid is sandwiched between two planar electrodes, the upper one fixed w hile the lower one is subjected to an oscillatory sinusoidal motion an d is energized either by a constant voltage or by a constant field. In this dynamic squeeze flow it is seen that the force transmitted acros s the fluid is greater when the applied electrical field is maintained at a constant level, controlled with reference to the instantaneous g ap between the electrodes. In addition, we compare the experimental re sults with those from an existing theoretical model in which the fluid is assumed to have a bi-viscous rheological characteristic.