Multibody structural dynamics including translation between the bodies

New and recently developed concepts useful for obtaining and solving equations of motion of multibody mechanical systems with translation between the respective bodies of the system, is presented. The incorporation of translation effects make the analysis applicable to a much broader class of problems than was possible with previous analyses which are restricted to linked multibody systems. The concepts developed in the analysis include the use of Euler parameters, Lagrange\u27s form of d\u27Alembert\u27s principle, quasi-coordinates, relative coordinates, and body connection arrays. Procedures for the development of efficient computer algorithms for evaluating the coefficients of the governing equations of motion are outlined. The methods presented are directly applicable in the analysis of biodynamic and human models, finite segment cable models, mechanisms, manipulators and robots. © 1980, All rights reserved