GENERALIZED CONSTRAINT AND JOINT REACTION FORCES IN THE INVERSE DYNAMICS OF SPATIAL FLEXIBLE MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

In both the augmented and recursive formulations of the dynamic equations of flexible mechanical systems, the inertia, constraints, and applied forces must be properly defined. The inverse dynamics is a commonly used approach for the force analysis of mechanical systems. In this approach, the system is kinematically driven using specified motion trajectories, and the objective is to determine the driving forces and torques. In flexible body dynamics, however, a force that acts at a point on the deformable body is equipollent to a system, defined at another point, that consists of the same force, a moment that depends on the relative deformation between the two points, and a set of generalized forces associated with the elastic coordinates. Furthermore, a moment in flexible body dynamics is no longer a free vector. It is defined by the location of its line of action as well as its magnitude and direction. The joint reaction and generalized constraint forces represent equipollent systems of forces. Both systems in flexible body dynamics are function of the deformation. In this investigation, a procedure is developed for the determination of the joint reaction forces in spatial flexible mechanical systems. The mathematical formulation of some mechanical joints that are often encountered in the analysis of constrained flexible mechanical systems is discussed. Expressions for the generalized reaction forces in terms of the constraint Jacobian matrices of the joints are presented. The effect of the elastic deformation on the reaction forces is also examined numerically using the spatial flexible multibody RSSR mechanism that consists of a set of interconnected rigid and elastic bodies. The procedure described in this investigation can also be used to determine the joint torques and actuator forces in kinematically driven spatial elastic mechanism and manipulator systems.