Transfer Matrix Method for Multibody Systems

7Discrete Time Transfer Matrix Method for Multibody Systems

7.1 Introduction

7.1.1 Characteristics of Ordinary Multibody System Dynamics Methods

With the development of modern industrial technology, many complex mechanical systems have appeared, such as weaponry, aeronautics, astronautics, vehicles, robots and precision machines, which are composed of many components with large relative motion. Under the condition of strong engineering demands, a new branch, namely multibody system dynamics, appeared. The numerical simulation of complex mechanical systems became possible with the appearance and development of the computer. Multibody system dynamics is an engineering application essential to the study of mechanical system dynamics, and systems consisting of many bodies undergoing large relative motion are its main study object. In general, the components of multibody systems include bodies and joints. Body components include rigid bodies, flexible bodies and lumped masses. A system is a multi‐rigid‐body system if the bodies involved are all rigid bodies, it is a multi‐flexible‐body system if the bodies involved are all flexible bodies and a multi‐rigid‐flexible‐body system if both rigid bodies and flexible bodies are involved. The joints are the components connecting the bodies.

The deduction of the dynamic equations of multibody systems and their numerical solutions are two main research areas of multibody system dynamics. Generally, there are two major methods for deriving ...