Resistor-capacitor (RC) operator-based hysteresis model for magnetorheological (MR) dampers

Aiming at efficiently and precisely describing and predicting the rate-independent nonlinear hysteresis characteristics of magnetorheological (MR) dampers, this paper investigates a resistor-capacitor (RC) operator-based hysteresis model for MR dampers. The model is under the frame of the “restructured model” proposed by Bai et al. (“Principle and validation of modified hysteretic models for magnetorheological dampers,” Smart Materials and Structures, 24(8), 085014, 2015) with the RC operator substituting the Bouc-Wen operator. The essence of the RC operator is the theoretical generalization of the hysteresis phenomenon that the RC circuit presents in charging and discharging processes. In detail, a virtual displacement variable and updating laws for reference points are employed. The virtual displacement keeps positive in uploading (i.e., RC circuit in charging process) while negative in downloading (i.e., RC circuit in discharging process). The hysteresis output is achieved through applying algebraic expressions, which realizes the RC operator. Based on the experimental results of a MR damper, the comparison and analysis of the RC operator-based model and the Bouc-Wen operator-based hysteresis models, including the Bouc-Wen model and the restructured model, are conducted.