Benchmarking of MBS simulation software

Despite the importance given to the computational efficiency of multibody system (MBS) simulation tools, there is a lack of standard benchmarks to measure the performance of these kinds of software applications. Benchmarking is done on an individual basis: different sets of problems are used, and the procedures and conditions considered to measure computational efficiency are also different. In this scenario, it becomes almost impossible to compare the performance of the different available simulation methods in an objective and quantitative way. This works proposes a benchmarking system for MBS simulation tools. The system is made up by two components: (a) a collection of test problems with reference solutions and standardized procedures to measure computational efficiency; and (b) a web-based application to collect, organize and share information about performance of existing simulation methods. The benchmarking system has been applied to evaluate the performance of ADAMS/Solver, a popular MBS simulation tool.