A new approach for dynamic analysis of flexible manipulator systems

In this paper, a new approach for dynamic analysis of the flexible multibody manipulator systems is described. The organization of the computer implementations which are used to automatically construct and numerically solve the system of loosely coupled dynamic equations expressed in terms of the absolute, joint and elastic coordinates is discussed. The main processor source code consists of three main modules: constraint module, mass module and force module. The constraint module is used to numerically evaluate the relationship between the absolute and joint accelerations. The mass module is used to numerically evaluate the system mass matrix as well as the non-linear Coriolis and centrifugal forces associated with the absolute, joint and elastic coordinates. At the same time, the force module is used to numerically evaluate the generalized external and elastic forces associated with the absolute, joint and elastic coordinates. Computational efficiency is achieved by taking advantage of the structure of the resulting system of loosely coupled equations. The absolute, joint and elastic accelerations are integrated forward in time using direct numerical integration methods. The absolute positions and velocities can then be determined using the kinematic relationships. The flexible 2-DOF double-pendulum and spatial manipulator systems are used as illustrated examples to demonstrate and verify the application of the computational procedures discussed in this paper.