MUFEM ON FLEXIBLE MULTIBODY SYSTEM DYNAMICS

The paper addresses a new numerical simulation method on flexible multibody system dynamics-Multibody Finite Element Method (MUFEM). Based on FEM, MUFEM combines the main advantages of DDM (Domain Decomposition Method) and DDA (Discontinuous Deformation Analyses). It has the following features: 1) Each body has FEM meshes and boundary topological meshes, 2) The Lagrange multipliers are used on friction contact boundaries; 3) Contact forces are solved by mathematical programming method.Examples show that MUFEM can simulate satisfactorily the dynamic performance and the interaction in multiple elastic beams, indicating its potential applicability in many engineering fields.