Colloquia

Summary

A new formulation and the accompanying calculation system for Flexible Multibody Dynamics has been worked out. This Multibody Simulation (MBS) has been implemented in the MBS code and is shown to work well with simple beam problems. However, this code still has some severe limitations and the goal is to expand this code into the 3D domain. To that end, a preprocessor is created that makes it easier to compose input files for the MBS code in a simple and structured way. Additionally, the MBS code is cleaned up, data flow is improved and code base additions are made that extend the use of the MBS code. Furthermore, the graphical representation of the systems is improved and data storage is added to improve post processing abilities. Validation of the new preprocessor and the extended and updated MBS code is performed by simulating benchmark problems. These show that the preprocessor is capable of creating coherent and correct systems, independent of their complexity. Most importantly, the preprocessor allows for easy creation of variations of the same system in a simple and straightforward way. The MBS code shows that both static and dynamic simulations can be performed with results that are in good agreement with benchmark problems. Subsequently a 3D model of a solar array is simulated which shows the potential of the MBS code to simulate complex 3D problems with consistent results. Simulations on newly introduced plate elements show that currently the plate definition is not accurate enough to apply these elements to the MBS code. Although not all results are as expected, the preprocessor and MBS code work reasonably well and have good capabilities for 3D simulations. The added functionalities push the MBS simulations towards the 3D domain and form a good fundament for future steps in this direction.