Spatial joint constraints for the absolute nodal coordinate formulation using the non-generalized intermediate coordinates (Q542079)

A wide variety of mechanical and structural multibody systems consist of large deformable and rigid bodies connected by joints (spherical, cylindrical, sliding, etc.). In this paper, a systematic procedure is developed for modeling joint constraints in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. At first, a fully parameterized three-dimensional beam element obtained using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation is reviewed. Then the constraint formulations are obtained using the joint coordinate system determined by gradient coordinates. Non-generalized intermediate coordinates are introduced to derive a mapping between generalized gradient coordinates and non-generalized rotation parameters. A new constraint formulation using the non-generalized coordinates is developed, and procedures for eliminating the non-generalized coordinates and dependent Lagrange multipliers are presented. In order to demonstrate the use of the developed formulation, a rigid-flexible double pendulum and a four-bar mechanism with large deformable coupler are considered in numerical examples.