A Topological Approach to the Dynamic Simulation of Articulated Machinery

Abstract

This article presents a method for deriving the equations describing the motion of tree-structured mechanical systems of n rigid bodies linked to one another by spherical, universal and/or rotational joints. The dynamic and kinematic equations are formulated on the basis of the vector-network model. The vector-network approach is a mathematical model for the systematic development of nonlinear equations describing the motion of a system of rigid bodies interconnected by kinematic joints. The entire procedure of the vector-network is an application of the basic concepts of graph theory in which laws of dynamics have been integrated.