Computationally efficient dynamic model for the simulation of the stewart platform

This paper presents an implementation of a novel dynamic formulation on multibody systems involving closed loops. The formulation allows the treatment of time, appearing within the equations of motion, as a variable in much the same manner as having been done by the finite element community on the spatial coordinates. As a consequence, the resulting equations appear together in a single all-encompassing set of algebraic equations which may be solved simultaneously, yielding the system state for all times within the time interval considered. The approach conceivably allows the problem to be parallelized over both space and time, resulting in a far greater level of coarse grain parallelization. As the Stewart Platform is a heavily constrained system with its spatial domain being much smaller than the temporal domain of simulation, it will serve as a perfect example to test the implication of this method. Simulation results obtained from traditional dynamic techniques will be used for verification purposes.