Constraint forces in holonomic mechanical systems (Q579980)

The authors compare three different methods of numerical calculation of constraint forces in mechanical systems with holonomic constraints. The methods are: (I) Simultaneous integration of system and constraint equations (twice differentiated with respect to time), (II) Calculation of the Lagrangian multipliers by eliminating the accelerations in the constraint equations, (III) Kane's method by using a suitable state space, in which the constraint equations are very simple. The methods are discussed with respect to computational complexity and accuracy based on the number of operations used for matrix algebra and matrix condition numbers.