Bodies In Multibody Systems Research Articles

Nonsmooth dynamic analysis of rigid-flexible interaction collision

This paper aims to explore the deformation of the collided bodies in multi-body systems and to effectively simulate the motion path of colliding bodies. First, we describe the geometrically nonlinear problems of materials by the total Lagrangian formulation. Second, a first-order integration scheme is used to solve the dynamics equations. An algorithm combining the bi-potential method with the node-to-point contact identification is proposed to solve the interface problems of rigid-flexible interaction collision. To observe the collision process more intuitively, the internal software FER/VIEW is introduced to visualize the results. The accuracy is proved by comparing the proposed method with the analytical solution or another numerical solution. Moreover, the proposed method has more numerical robustness, such as occupying less computer storage, saving the computational cost, and broadening the application range of the bi-potential method.

Modeling Flexible Bodies in Multibody Systems in Joint-Coordinates Formulation Using Spatial Algebra

This paper presents an efficient approach of using spatial algebra operator to formulate the kinematic and dynamic equations for developing capabilities to model flexible bodies within general purpose multibody dynamics solver. The proposed approach utilizes the joint coordinates and modal elastic coordinates as the system generalized coordinates. The recursive nonlinear equations of motion are initially formulated using the Cartesian body coordinates (CBC) and the joint coordinates (JC) to form an augmented set of differential algebraic equations. The system connectivity matrix is derived from system topological relations and is used to project the Cartesian quantities into the joint subspace leading to minimum set of differential equations. The modal transformation matrix is used to describe the finite element kinematics in terms of a small set of generalized modal coordinates. Although the resulting stiffness matrix is constant, the mass matrix depends on the generalized elastic modal coordinates and needs to be updated at each time step. To reduce the computational efforts, a set of precomputed inertia shape invariants (ISI) can be identified and used to update the flexible body mass matrix. In this proposed joint-coordinates formulation, the transformation operations required for the flexible body inertia matrix are different from those in case of CBC formulation. The necessary ISI and the algorithm to reconstruct the modal mass matrix will be presented in this paper.

Model reduction of an elastic crankshaft for elastic multibody simulations

AbstractSystem analysis and optimization of combustion engines and engine components are increasingly supported by digital simulations. In the simulation process of combustion engines multi physics simulations are used. As an example, in the simulation of a crank drive the mechanical subsystem is coupled to a hydrodynamic subsystem. As far as the modeling of the mechanical subsystems is concerned, elastic multibody systems are frequently used. During the simulation many equations must be solved simultaneously, the hydrodynamic equations as well as the equations of motion of each body in the elastic multibody system. Since the discretization of the elastic bodies, e.g with the help of the finite element method, introduces a large number of elastic degrees of freedom, an efficient simulation of the system becomes difficult. The linear model reduction of the elastic degrees of freedom is a key step for using flexible bodies in multibody systems and turning simulations more efficient from a computational point of view. In recent years, a variety of new reduction methods alongside the traditional techniques were developed in applied mathematics. Some of these methods are reviewed and compared for reducing the equations of motion of an elastic body used in multibody systems. The special focus of this work is on balanced truncation model order reduction, which is a singular value based reduction technique using the Gramian matrices of the system. We investigate a version of this method that is adapted to the structure of a special class of second order dynamical systems which is important for the particular application discussed here. The simulation of a crank drive with a flexible crankshaft is taken as technically relevant example. The results are compared to other methods like Krylov approaches or modal reduction.

Dynamic Modeling of Viscoelastic Body in Multibody System

Dynamic equations of viscoelastic bodies with fractional constitutive are derived base on the principle of virtual work and the theory of continuum mechanics. The three-dimensional fractional derivative viscoelastic constitutive model is implemented into the flexible multibody system (FMBS), using the 3D solid element based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), which can exactly describe the geometric nonlinearities due to large rotation and large deformation. The BDF time integration scheme in conjunction with the Grünwald approximation of fractional derivative and the Newton-Raphson algorithm are used to solve the equations of motion. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the use of the modeling procedure presented in this investigation and the effects of parameters in the fractional derivative model.

Sparse matrix implicit numerical integration of the Stiff differential/algebraic equations: Implementation

The finite element absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) is often used in modeling very flexible bodies in multibody system (MBS) applications. This formulation leads to a constant mass matrix, allowing for an efficient sparse matrix implementation. Nonetheless, the use of the ANCF finite elements to model stiff structures can lead to high frequencies associated with ANCF coupled deformation modes, as discussed in the literature. Implicit numerical integration methods can be effectively used to develop efficient procedures for the solution of MBS differential/algebraic equations. Most existing implicit integration algorithms, however, require numerical differentiation of the equations of motion, and some of these integration methods do not ensure that the kinematic algebraic constraint equations are satisfied at all levels (position, velocity, and acceleration). Because of these limitations, existing implicit integration methods can be less accurate and less efficient when used to solve large scale MBS applications. In order to circumvent this problem, the two-loop implicit sparse matrix numerical integration (TLISMNI) method was proposed for the solution of MBS differential/algebraic equations. The TLISMNI method does not require numerical differentiation of the forces and allows for an efficient sparse matrix implementation. This paper discusses TLISMNI implementation issues including the step size selection, the error control, and the effect of the numerical damping. The relation between the step size selection and the structure stiffness is also discussed. The use of the computer implementation described in this paper is demonstrated by solving very stiff structure problems using the Hilber–Hughes–Taylor (HHT) method, which includes numerical damping. An eigenvalue analysis and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) are performed in order to identify the fundamental modes of deformation and demonstrate that the contributions of these fundamental modes can be erroneously damped out when some other implicit integration methods are used. The TLISMNI method, on the other hand, captures the contributions of these fundamental modes. The results, obtained using the TLISMNI method, are compared with the results obtained using other methods including the implicit HHT-I3 and the explicit Adams integration methods. The results obtained show that the TLISMNI method can be five times faster than the other two methods when no numerical damping is considered.

Aspects of Impact of Planar Deformable Bodies as Linear Complementarity Problems

This paper extends the linear complementarity problem formulation of [7] and [8] for normal impact of planar deformable bodies in multibody systems. In the kinematics of impact we consider the normal gaps between the impacting bodies in terms of the generalized coordinates. Then, the generalized coordinate’s vector is formulated in terms of the impact forces using the 5th order implicit Runge‐Kutta approach RADAU5. Substituting the generalized coordinates in the relation of normal gaps together with the complementarity relations of unilateral contact constraints leads to a linear complementarity problem where its solution results in the solution of the impact problem including impact forces and normal gaps. Then, alternatively another formulation on velocity level based on the 4th order explicit Runge‐Kutta is presented. In the presented approach no coefficient of restitution is used for treatment of energy loss during impact and, instead, the material damping is responsible for energy loss. A good agreement between the results of our approach with the results of FEM for soft planar deformable bodies was shown in [7]. Here, we improve the results for stiff planar deformable bodies and show that with a proper selection of eigenmodes, the results on both position and velocity level approach the precise results of FEM provided that an optimal time step of the integration is chosen. We also investigate the effect of considering material damping and some higher eigenfrequencies on the amount of energy which is dissipated during impact based on our approach.

다물체계내 유연체의 구조기인 소음해석

This paper presents the method for structure borne noise analysis of a flexible body in multibody system. The proposed method is the superposition method using the flexible multibody dynamic analysis and the finite element one. This method is executed in 3 steps. In the 1st step, time dependent quantities such as dynamic loads, modal coordinates and gross body motion of the flexible body are calculated through a flexible multibody dynamic analysis. And frequency response functions of those time dependent quantities are computed through Fourier transforms. In the 2nd step, acoustic pressure coefficients are obtained through structure-acoustic coupling analyses by the finite element method. In the final step, frequency responses of acoustic pressure at the acoustic nodes are recovered through linear superposition of frequency response functions with acoustic pressure coefficients. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified in the numerical example of a simple car model.

Flexible Multibody Simulation and Choice of Shape Functions

The approach most widely used for the modelling of flexible bodies in multibody systems has been called the floating frame of reference formulation. In this methodology the flexible body motion is subdivided into a reference motion and deformation. The displacement field due to deformation is approximated by the Ritz method as a product of known shape functions and unknown coordinates depending on time only. The shape functions may be obtained using finite-element-models of flexible bodies in multibody systems, resulting in a detailed system representation and a high number of system equations. The number of system equations of such a nodal approach can be reduced considerably using a modal representation of deformation. This modal approach, however, leads to the fundamental problem of selecting the shape functions. The floating frame of reference formulation is reviewed here using a generic flexible body model, from which the various body models used in multibody simulations may be derived by formulation of specific constraint equations. Special attention is given in this investigation to the following subjects: • The separation of flexible body motion into a reference motion and deformation requires the definition of a body reference frame, which in turn affects the choice of shape functions. Some alternatives will be outlined together with their advantages and disadvantages. • Assuming the body deformation to be small, the system equations can be linearized. This may require considering geometric stiffening terms. The problem of how to compute these terms has been solved in literature on the instability of structures under critical loads. For finite element models the geometric stiffening terms are obtained from the tangential stiffness matrix. • The generality of the flexible body model allows the definition of an object oriented data base to describe the system bodies. Such a data base includes a general interface between multibody- and finite-element-codes. • By combining eigenfunctions and static deformation modes to represent body deformation one obtains a set of so-called quasi-comparison functions. When selected properly these functions can be shown to improve the representation of stresses significantly.