Approximate dynamic simulation of constrained mechanical systems

Abstract

This paper describes a method of finding the dynami cally dictated position, velocity, and acceleration of a point along a constrained path. The dynamic equations of motion are formulated on the assumption that reaction forces are available. In the circuit these reaction forces are replaced by magnified errors in velocity constraints. This paper shows that this technique produces a very good approxima tion to the true dynamic equations. The method is suitable for analogue or digital computation and can be applied in other fields.