NARX-based technique for the modeling of magneto-rheological damping devices

This paper presents a methodology for identifying variable-structure nonlinear models of magneto-rheological dampers (MRD) and similar devices. Its peculiarity with respect to the mainstream literature is to be especially conceived for obtaining models that are structurally simple, easy to estimate and well suited for model-based control. This goal is pursued by adopting linear-in-the-parameters NARX models, for which an identification method is developed based on the minimization of the simulation error. This method is capable of selecting the model structure together with the parameters, thus it does not require a priori structural information. A set of validation tests is reported, with the aim of demonstrating the technique’s efficiency by comparing it to a widely accepted MRD modelling approach.