Flexible Multibody Dynamics—Essential for Accurate Modeling in Multibody System Dynamics

Abstract

Multibody system dynamics enables the rapid and economical exploration of machine dynamic behaviors. Multibody dynamics can reduce or even eliminate the need for physical prototyping; accelerate the product development cycle; and reduce development costs. Furthermore, the approach makes it possible to virtually and safely investigate dangerous or destructive events. Often in multibody system dynamics, the analyst assumes mathematically rigid interconnected bodies, which is an acceptable simplification for the analysis of motion and forces in some engineering problems. In an increasing number of cases, however, the deformation of one or more bodies must be considered to achieve the desired simulation accuracies.