Recursive formulas for design sensitivity analysis of mechanical systems (Q5938296)

Using generalized recursive formula, the authors construct a method for design sensitivity analysis. The equations of motion are expressed in a relative coordinate system by using a velocity transformation; thus the authors are able to classify all necessary computations into several categories. The equations of motion are discretised with respect to time by a backward difference formula, giving ODEs on manifolds. The proposed semi-analytical method is easy to implement and demonstrates its computational efficiency. As an example, the authors perform the design sensitivity analysis of a large-scale vehicle system with a changing damping coefficient. The calculations can be made on a PC-level computer if the number of design variables is not too excessive.