International Journal on Mechanical Engineering and Robotics (IJMER)

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Investigation Study on Fluid Flow Modelling and Damping Response

of Automobile Hydraulic Damper
1

Kautkar Nitin Uttamrao, 2S.T Satpute, 3L.M Jugulkar

Post Graduate Student , 2Associate Professor, 3Assistant Professor,

Automobile Engineering Department, R.I.T. Islampur (M.S.), India
2,3
Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Rajaramnagar, Sangli, Maharashtra
Email: 1nitin.kautkar@gmail.com, 2sanjay.satpute@ritindia.edu, 3lalitkumar@ritindia.edu
1

heavy load applications such as heavy military vehicles,

landing gear suspension in aircrafts and space shuttles.
The liquid ow through orifices produces larger
damping where as the cushioning eect comes from the
uids compressibility. The liquid spring design is
subject to constant high pressure necessary to achieve
required forces, which drastically increases during
dynamic operation. These peak dynamic pressures
which may propagate uid leakage the shock
transmissibility and the suspension play are the critical
design parameters. [6] Unlike automobile suspension
design where the trade OFF between the driving comfort
and manoeuvrability is the principal design concern
robustness and reliability are key design aspects in
defence systems. Theoretical studies have long back
shown that liquid springs are very eective in isolating
large shocks high-rate input loading [3]. The basic
schematic of a liquid spring is shown in Fig.1 where
variables H, ht, Ap, Ar, M, W, g and V(t), respectively,
represent the overall internal height of the device,
thickness of the piston, piston cross-section area, pistonrod cross-section area, supported mass its weight,
gravity and the velocity excitation from the ground.

Abstract -Automobile shock absorber consists of a

dissipative element connected in parallel with an elastic
element. Fluid damper are most reliable to be used as a
dissipative elements in the vehicle shock absorber.
Damping action in fluid shock absorbers is obtained by
throttling viscous fluid through an orifice. Fluid shock
absorbers offer sufficient damping force with compact size,
also the damping force is linear in nature. Damping force
of the fluid damper depends on orifice properties and on
the physical properties of oil used.
This case study carry out on fluid flow modelling and
damping
response
of
hydraulic
damper
also
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) trial study method
is used to investigation fluid flow pressure in moped (Luna)
hydraulic damper. Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are
solved by the SIMPLE method and the RNG k- is used to
model turbulence.
Keywords Shock absorber, Hydraulic damper, Hydraulic
valve, CFD simulation

I. INTRODUCTION
Isolation from forces transmitted by external excitation
is the fundamental task of any suspension system. In
case of a vehicle a classical car suspension aim to
achieve isolation from the road by means of spring-type
element and viscous damper (shock absorber) dampers
are also called shock absorbers, shocks or spring energy
dissipaters and contemporarily to improve road holding
and handling. Dampers are an integral part of any
suspension system. The main function of the dampers is
to control the transient behaviour of the sprung and
unsprung masses of the vehicle. This is accomplished by
damping the energy stored in the springs from
suspension movement. The elastic element of
suspension is constituted by spring (coil spring but also
air spring and leaf spring), where as the damping
element is typically of the viscous type. Shock absorbers
are compact, light weight suspension struts which
reduce the suspension play and they can be used in very

Primary suspension is the term used to designate those

suspension components connecting the axle and wheel
assemblies of a vehicle to the frame of the vehicle. This
is in contrast to the suspension components connecting
the frame and body of the vehicle, or those components
located directly at the vehicles seat, commonly called
the secondary suspension. There are two basic types of
elements in conventional suspension systems. These
elements are springs and dampers. The role of the
spring in a vehicles suspension system is to support the
static weight of the vehicle. The role of the damper is to
control the input from the road that is transmitted to the
vehicle. The basic function and form of a suspension is
the same regardless of the type of vehicle or suspension.
Primary suspensions will be divided into passive, active
adjustable and semiactive systems, as will be discussed
next, within the context of this study.

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Fig, 1.1: (a) Schematic of the liquid shock absorber and

(b) top view of the orices in the piston [6]

Fig.2.2: Free body diagram of the piston [10]

By considering the forces acting on the piston, the
damping force can be obtained as follows:

II. ANALYSIS OF DAMPING:

F damping =Pr..Ar-Pc.Ac Ffriction

Rebound valve consists of rebound slice which locates

piston underside and piston under-surface, the basic
components include piston orifice, throttle slice, throttle
holes and down-check ring. Schematic diagram is shown
in Figure 2. In Figure 2, dh is diameter of piston orifice,
nh is the number; p is pressure on throttle slice; frk0 is
pre- deformation of throttle slice which is decided by the
fixing size to ensure right valve-opening velocity; rb is
outer radius of slice, r k is valve mouth radius, ra is inner
radius of slice (taking the fixing size into account); $ k is
the opening size of rebound slice, and it is equal to
difference between total deformation frk and pre
deformation frk0 of slice. For the design of throttle holes
area, it should take the piston orifice, the piston slot and
local throttle loss with suddenly expansion, and
shrinkage and direction change into account.[4]

. 1 [10]

Ar = Ap- Arod
Where,
Fdamping is a damping force. Ffriction is the friction force,
that is acting on piston rod.[10]
2.1Piston orifice:
Orifices are distributed on the piston uniformity. The
diameter dh and number nh are both serialization, and dh
is in series, such as 1.5 mm, 1.75 mm, 2.0 mm, nh is in
series too, such as 2, 4, 6, 8. For single piston orifice
with diameter dh and length Lh, its type can be selected
by the ratio Lh / dh. Due to Lh / dh > 4, according to the
definition of orifice sort, piston orifice can be regarded
as slim orifice. So the throttle pressure of piston orifice
as follows
Ph=

...................... 2 [4]

Where, ph is the pressure of pisto+n orifice; L is the

equivalent Length the value is equal to sum of the
physical length and the local loss calibrated length, that
is L = Lh + Le; t is the dynamic viscosity of fluid. [4]

III. THE 3D ANSYS:

3.1Fluent Simulations:
Fluent Simulations In order to capture the fluid flow
pressure behaviour in CFD analysis have been
performed. The ANSYS Fluent solver has been used to
run a set of steady-state simulations for the parametric
design moped (Luna) geometries. The hydraulic damper
have been analysed in two separate chamber which is
rebound and compression chamber.

Fig.2.1: Schematic diagram of rebound valve [4]

The damping force of shock absorber is determined by
the forces acting on the both sides of the piston. And the
friction forces are another factor that determines
damping force. Nevertheless, in this study, the friction
forces are ignored to simplify the analysis. Fig.1.3
shows free body diagram of the piston considering the
damping force [10]

Mass flow inlets/pressure outlets boundaries are chosen

in order to cover the known operating range main
settings for the performed steady-state CFD analysis.
This model is used in many practical engineering flow
calculations, thanks to its robustness, economy and
accuracy for a wide range of turbulent flows.
Additionally, the realizable version, compared to

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standard k- models, improves the mathematical
formulations around the definition of the critical
Reynolds stresses, leading to a better prediction over
flows characterized by strong streamline curvature,
vortices and rotations.

TABE 3.2.2: MASS FLOW VALUE FOR DIFRANT

VELOCITY
Sr.
No

Velocity
of fluid
0.1

Mass flow for

Rebound
stroke (kg/s)
0.018130

Mass flow for

Compression
stroke(kg/s)
0.023367576

1
2

0.2

0.03627

0.046735152

Typical CFD analysis results from simulation are shown

by Figure where the complexity of the fluid flow and its
influence on the hydraulic pressure build up can be
noticed.

Fig 3.1: Fluid domain in ANSYSE FLUENT

3.2 MASS FLOW CALCULATIONS:
Density of Fluid *Area * Velocity of Fluid
Where, Density of fluid (p) = 860 kg/m3
TABLE 3.2.1- PARAMETRIC DIMENSION FOR
MOPED (LUNA)
Parameter

Value

Unit

Cylinder Diameter
Piston Diameter

18.9
18.6

mm
Mm

Rod diameter
Rod length

8.8
142

mm
mm

Piston height

Mm

Cylinder height

118

Mm

Fig 3.2: ANSYSE FLUENT result for fluid pressure

pattern at 0.01813kg/s mass flow in rebound stroke

Area Consideration for Rebound stroke while Mass

Flow Calculation for 2 Orifice= Area of Piston Area of
Rod
=

2-

Fig 3.3: ANSYSE FLUENT result for fluid pressure

pattern at 0.023367576 kg/s mass flow in compression
stroke

=*9.3 *4.4

=210.895 mm2

VI. CONCLUSIONS

Area Consideration for Compression stroke while Mass

Flow Calculation Orifice for 2 Orifice =

Fluid flow modelling of the shock absorber/hydraulic

damper which contains rebound chamber, compression
chamber, orifice, assembly is given in this paper, then a
trial CFD simulation model is established using ANSYS
software, whole study describe that damping force or
response is the distributed parameter modelling/design is
not only necessary to understand the impact of key
design features, but also to extract physical variables
associated with the fluid flow. In particular, flow pattern
and static pressure distributions on the piston are studied.

Area of Piston =
=*9.32
=271.176 mm2
Velocity of fluid which is basic mineral oil as given
below (calculate Mass flow for each Velocity for given
Velocity range by considering Area and Density
constant) 0.1, 0.2

Finally, based on a investigation study evaluation of the

information obtained from all the cases examined, it was
concluded that while fluid passes through one chamber
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International Journal on Mechanical Engineering and Robotics (IJMER)

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to another orifice region is the influence region from
where pressure losses are going to start, however
pressure difference is the function of damping force
moreover damping response depend on pressure
difference .

[7]

M. Shams, R. Ebrahimi, A. Raoufi and B. J.

Jafari (2007), CFD-FEA analysis of hydraulic
shock absorber valve behavior, International
Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 8, pp
615-622.

REFERENCES

[8]

G. Verros,s. Natsiavas, C. Papadimitriou (2005),

Design Optimization of Quarter-car
Models
with Passive and Semi-active Suspensions under
Random Road Excitation, Journal of Vibration
and Control, pp 581606.

[9]

Yanquing Liu,Hiroshi Matsuhisa,Hideo Utsuno

(2005), Vibration Isolation by a Variable
Stiffness
and
Damping
System,JSME
International Journal Series C,Vol.48,No.2,2005,
pp 305-310.

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[2]

L.M. Jugulkar,Dr. Shankar Singh, Nitin

Satpute(2011), Developments in suspension a
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[3]

Branislav Titurus , Jonathan du Bois, Nick

Lieven, Robert Hansford (2010), A method for
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[4]

Changcheng Zhou , Zhiyun Zheng and Xueyi

Zhang (2009), Design method for throttle holes
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[5]

Yanqing Liu,Hiroshi Matsuhisa, Hideo Utsuno

(2008), Semi-active vibration isolation system
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variable
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and
damping
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[6]

A.K. Samantaray (2007),Modeling and analysis

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[10] Choon-TaeLeea,Byung-YoungMoonb
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R. D. Eyres, A.R. Champneys, N.A. J .Lieven

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[13] John C. Dixon (2007),The shock absorber

handbook ,Second edition Professional
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