NEW PREDICTOR/CORRECTOR ALGORITHMS WITH IMPROVED ENERGY BALANCE FOR A RECENT FORMULATION OF DYNAMIC VEHICLE/STRUCTURE INTERACTION

A new class of predictor/corrector algorithms is proposed to solve the complex system of differential equations that arises from a Galerkin spatial discretization of the equations of motion in a recent formulation of dynamic vehicle/structure interaction. The applicability of the concept of a building-block vehicle/structure interaction model developed in our previous work-where the vehicle nominal motion is not prescribed a priori, but is part of the unknown motion of the system-is demonstrated through the construction of a simple vehicle model. In the new algorithms, the presence of the accelerations of the vehicle component is eliminated in the predictor structural equations, making these equations different from the corrector structural equations. The special treatment of the predicted axial motion that provides an artificial damping to eliminate unstable oscillations in the numerical results as proposed in the old algorithms is avoided. Accurate results from numerical simulations using the new algorithms are obtained, and there are no unstable oscillations that were observed in some other predictor/corrector schemes. The system energy balance is also better preserved compared with the old algorithms. 1