Spatial Formulation of Elastic Multibody Systems with Impulsive Constraints

The problem of modeling the transient dynamics ofthree-dimensional multibody mechanical systems which encounter impulsiveexcitations during their functional usage is addressed. The dynamicbehavior is represented by a nonlinear dynamic model comprising a mixedset of reference and local elastic coordinates. The finite-elementmethod is employed to represent the local deformations ofthree-dimensional beam-like elastic components by either a finite set ofnodal coordinates or a truncated set of modal coordinates. Thefinite-element formulation will permit beam elements with variablegeometry. The governing equations of motion of the three-dimensionalmultibody configurations will be derived using the Lagrangianconstrained formulation. The generalized impulse-momentum-balance methodis extended to accommodate the persistent type of the impulsiveconstraints. The developed formulation is implemented into a multibodysimulation program that assembles the equations of motion and proceedswith its solution. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate theapplicability of the developed method and to display its potential ingaining more insight into the dynamic behavior of such systems.