Forward Dynamics of Flexible Multibody Systems

So far, several approaches to the solution of the kinematics and dynamics of multibody systems have been presented. It has been assumed in these approaches that all the bodies satisfy the rigid body condition. A body is assumed to be rigid if any pair of its material points do not present relative displacements. In practice, bodies suffer some degree of deformation; so this assumption does not hold in the strict sense. However, in the majority of the cases the relative displacements are so small that they do not affect the system’s behavior. Therefore, they can be neglected without committing an appreciable error.