An augmented formulation for mechanincal systems with non-generalized coordinates: Application to rigid body contact problems (Q5931818)

The authors propose a method for dynamic analysis of mechanical systems with a mixed set of generalized and non-generalized coordinates. This method can be applied to rigid body contact problems in computational multibody dynamics. By introducing surface parameters to describe the geometry of contact surfaces, the contact constraints can be formulated in terms of generalized coordinates and surface parameters. Numerical example of a wheel set and a track on two rails demonstrate the feasibility of the implementation of the contact algorithm in multibody computer programs.