Characterization of a hydro-pneumatic suspension strut with gas-oil emulsion

The nonlinear stiffness and damping properties of a simple and low-cost design of a hydro-pneumatic suspension (HPS) strut that permits entrapment of gas into the hydraulic oil are characterized experimentally and analytically. The formulation of gas-oil emulsion is studied in the laboratory, and the variations in the bulk modulus and mass density of the emulsion are formulated as a function of the gas volume fraction. An analytical model of the HPS is formulated considering polytropic change in the gas state, seal friction, and the gas-oil emulsion flows through orifices and valves. The model is formulated considering one and two bleed orifices configurations of the strut. The measured data acquired under a nearly constant temperature are used to identify gas volume fraction of the emulsion, and friction and flow discharge coefficients as functions of the strut velocity and fluid pressure. The results suggested that single orifice configuration, owing to high fluid pressure, causes greater gas entrapment within the oil and thus significantly higher compressibility of the gas-oil emulsion. The model results obtained under different excitations in the 0.1-8 Hz frequency range showed reasonably good agreements with the measured stiffness and damping properties of the HPS strut. The results show that the variations in fluid compressibility and free gas volume cause increase in effective stiffness but considerable reduction in the damping in a highly nonlinear manner. Increasing the gas volume fraction resulted in substantial hysteresis in the force-deflection and force-velocity characteristics of the strut.