Dynamic Analysis. Equations of Motion

This chapter deals with the direct dynamic problem which consists of determining the motion of a multibody system that results from the application of the external forces and/or the kinematically controlled or driven degrees of freedom. The direct dynamic analysis is also commonly referred to as the dynamic simulation. Its importance is steadily increasing in fields such as: automobile industry, aerospace, robotics, machinery, biomechanics, and others. The possibility of kinematically controlling some degrees of freedom in a dynamic problem has many practical applications. For example, in the analysis of vehicle suspensions, if the wheel is rigid, its center follows the trajectory determined by the rolling surface. The dynamic problem will determine the resulting motion of all the vehicle’s remaining elements.