An improved dynamic modeling of a multibody system with spherical joints (Q1024020)

For the dynamic simulation of a spherical joint three intersecting orthogonal revolute joints with vanishing lengths of the intermediate links between the revolving joints can be substituted, which increases the sizes of the associated matrices in the equations of motion, and increases unnecessarily the computational burden of the simulation algorithm. The orientation of a spherical joint, that connects a link to its previous joint and provides three-degree-of-motion capabilities, can be determined by three Euler parameters. This avoids the introduction of the intermediate links and makes the dynamic modelling more efficient. To assess the efficiency of the proposed dynamic simulation algorithm, a special four-bar revolute-spherical-spherical-revolute mechanism is analysed, and the computational effort is compared with previous numerical results by \textit{H. Chaudhary} and \textit{S. K. Saha} [Mech. Des. 129, No. 12, 1234--1242 (2007)]. Almost 10\% CPU time reduction was achieved. A second example, a complex suspension and steering linkage, illustrates the use of Euler parameters for the representation of a spherical joint and the associated extension of the concept of decoupled natural orthogonal complement matrices.