Reduced state space model for the substructuring of nonlinear multibody mechanisms

In the work presented in this paper we introduce a novel approach for reducing nonlinear models of mechanical systems organized in an open kinematic chain topology. Starting from the Equation of Motion (EoM) of a constrained mechanical system including different sources of non-linearities, and assuming that the location and type of the non-linear behavior is known, a state space realization is obtained through linearization and standard matricial computation. Hints to generate this distinction are here given and basis towards a general procedure are suggested. Singular perturbation is hence adopted to purge the non-linearly behaving states and to reduce the model’s configuration parameters. The nonlinear portion is maintained in the MB environment, finally linked in a coupled simulation with the reduced first order system.Copyright © 2011 by ASME