Kronecker product and a new matrix form of Lagrangian equations with multipliers for constrained multibody systems

The automatic derivation of motion equations is an important problem of multibody system dynamics. Firstly, an overview of the matrix calculus related to Kronecker product of two matrices is presented. A new matrix form of Lagrangian equations with multipliers for constrained multibody systems is then developed to demonstrate the usefulness of Kronecker product of two matrices in the study of dynamics of multibody systems. Finally, the equations of motion of mechanisms are derived using the proposed matrix form of Lagrangian equations as application examples.