Nonlinear dynamics of a cable-pulley system using the absolute nodal coordinate formulation

It is reasonable to develop models and to investigate the dynamic behaviour of systems composed of cables since cable vibration can have an important effect on the motion of these mechanical systems. This paper deals with the application of the nonlinear formulation for flexible body dynamics called the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF). It is used for modelling the systems composed of cables, pulleys, other rigid bodies and a motor with prescribed motion. The ANCF was chosen as a suitable approach, which that can allow to consider a detailed interaction of the cable and the pulley with its nonlinear dynamical behaviour. The ANCF uses absolute positions of nodes (reference vectors) and slopes (reference vector derivations) as a set of nodal coordinates. An in-house modelling tool in the MATLAB system was created based on the proposed modelling methodology and two case studies were performed. A simple system containing a pulley and a cable with two attached bodies was used in order to test the simulation tool based on the proposed modelling methodology with respect to different parameters. A more complex mechanical system composed of a driven weight joined with a motor by a cable led over a pulley was numerically and also experimentally investigated. The comparison of obtained numerical and experimental results shows sufficient agreement and proves that the proposed modelling approach can be used for dynamic analyses of such systems.