Numerical Study of the Plane, Slotted and Holed Disc Magnetorheological Brakes: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach

This research work presents a numerical procedure to obtain the braking torque of a magnetorheological (MR) brake, by considering the magnetic field distribution, Bingham constitutive model for MR fluid followed by the computational fluid dynamic (CFD), and multi-phase flow approach. The MR fluid kept in between the two parallel discs of the MR brake is taken as an incompressible, steady, and laminar flow for the two-dimensional CFD simulation. We aim to develop a numerical tool that can simulate the magnetic field distribution, MR fluid flow velocities, and MR particle migration. The governing equations in the modules of COMSOL Multiphysics software are solved for MR fluid, which is based on finite element analysis. The numerical simulation results for MR fluid flow and particle migration were obtained which affect the braking torque. To obtain a higher braking torque, an MR brake with three different types of braking discs as a plane, slotted, and holed disc is proposed. The simulation results at different working radii (up to 3.5 mm), current (0–1.5 A), and rotational speeds (at 300 rpm) show higher braking torque for slotted MR brake disc (4.5Nm) than the other two MR brake discs.