Exudyn – a C++-based Python package for flexible multibody systems

Abstract

The present contribution introduces the design, methods, functionalities, and capabilities of the open-source multibody dynamics code Exudyn, which has been developed since 2019. The code has been designed for rigid and flexible multibody systems, with a focus on performance for multicore desktop processors. It includes script-language-based modeling and it is intended to be used in science and education, but also in industry. The open-source code is available on GitHub and consists of a main C++ core, a rich Python interface including pre- and postprocessing modules in Python, and a collection of rigid and flexible bodies with appropriate joint, load, and sensor functionality. Integrated solvers allow explicit and implicit time integration, static solution, eigenvalue analysis, and optimization. In the paper, the code design, structure, computational core, computational objects, and multibody formulations are addressed. In addition, the computational performance is evaluated with examples of rigid and flexible multibody systems. The results show the significant impact of multithreading especially for small systems, but also for larger models.