Modeling and simulation of closed loop multibody systems with bodies-joints composite modules

Modular approaches are effective in improving the modeling efficiency in multibody system dynamics. A modular method, called bodies-joints composite simulation (BJCS) is presented in this paper. Two types of bodies-joints composite modules, i.e., f modules and 0 modules, are defined according to topology design rules of closed loop mechanisms. By this module partitioning, the differential-algebraic equations of motion of the system can be separated into purely algebraic and differential equations by structure decomposition. The stability criterion for the simulation is derived and a closed-form formulation to solve the algebraic loop problem is proposed. Simulation results of the forward dynamics of a 5R mechanism and a 6-UPS platform are presented to show the feasibility of the method. The CPU times of these two case studies are provided and compared with the generalized coordinate partitioning of Wehage and Haug and the modular simulation method of Kübler and Schiehlen, which indicate that the closed-form algebraic loop solver is more efficient than the numerical ones.