Mathematical modeling of complex mechanical systems

AbstractMathematical modeling of mechanical systems based on multibody system models is a well tested approach. Generating the equations of motion for complex multibody systems with a large number of degrees of freedom is difficult with paper and pencil. For this reason methods for automatic equation generation have been developed. Most methods result in numerical equations of motion without explicit information about the parameters. In this paper a method is described resulting in symbolic equations of motion. The method allows also the determination of the constraint forces which are important for design purposes. The inverse problem of dynamics is also easily solved