No label defined (Q4024176)

Efficient treatment of holonomic and nonholonomic constraints in multibody analysis is widely recognized as a key feature of every reliable and efficient computational procedure for dynamics. In this paper a particular formulation of the problem of motion of constrained mechanical systems is discussed both from a theoretical and a numerical point of view. The method, originated in the context of finite elements in time, is here extended to a differential equation formulation. The state vector of the system is described in a modified phase space where the generalized momenta are allowed as components in the unfeasible directions of the constraints, thus becoming free quantities not subject to constraint conditions. A penalty formulation is developed assuming the reaction forces as quantities proportional to the constraint violations.