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In numerous engineering domains, the magnetorheological damper, a semi-active device for vibration control is employed to generate a damping force with little power demand. This paper presents a novel approach to enhance the seismic and cyclic excitation resistance of MRD by incorporating a 3D-printed accumulator within the chamber. The proposed modified accumulator MRD (AMRD) is then compared to conventional small-scale MRD (CMRD) which already exists. The experiment utilizes the displacement control approach, with fixed displacements of 5 mm and 10 mm. The excitation frequency is varied within the range of 0.1–1 Hz. Higher excitation frequencies in both conventional MRD (CMRD) and modified accumulator MRD (AMRD) resulted in a linear rise in damping force and energy dissipation. The dissipation of energy exhibited a substantial increase when both frequency and displacement were concurrently elevated. In comparison with CMRD, AMRD resulted in a 23.76% increase in total damping force for 5 mm displacements and a 26.76% increase for 10 mm displacements. The energy dissipation was also by 24.01% and 26.87% for displacements of 5 mm and 10 mm, respectively, as a result of the AMRD. The experimental results indicate that the energy dissipation ranges of the AMRD are more promising in comparison to the CMRD. The study demonstrates that improving the performance of a CMRD can be accomplished without imposing additional design complexities or spatial constraints on an already established MRD.

The results of an experimental investigation on a developed small-scale MR damper for seismic response reduction in buildings are presented in this article. The damper is intended to have a target capacity of 2 kN. The damper was designed and built using the flow mode principle. The MTS servo-hydraulic UTM was used for testing, and the results were obtained as force–velocity and force displacement plots based on real-time data collected by the MTS suite. From the force–displacement curve, energy dissipated by the MR damper for corresponding frequencies has also been determined. To compare the percentage increase in damping force, the force corresponding to all excitation frequencies is obtained and plotted as force velocity. The maximum force was 252.77 N at 1 Hz, and the minimum force was 175.55 N at 0.1 Hz, with the corresponding velocity of 31.22 mm/s at 1 Hz and 3.56 mm/s at 0.2 Hz. The experiment showed that the MR damper’s velocity varies with displacement control and variable excitation frequency. As the excitation frequency/velocity increases, so does the damping force. Furthermore, the energy dissipated by the MR damper increases significantly as the excitation frequency/velocity increases, ranging from 1.72 to 2.43 J, demonstrating that the developed small-scale MR damper is suitable for use as a vibration-control device in structures.