MASS-ORTHOGONAL FORMULATION OF EQUATIONS OF MOTION FOR MULTIBODY SYSTEMS

A projection method based on the classical equations of mechanics for the description of multibody systems is presented. The system is described by arbitrary coordinates and velocity parameters. From the constraint equations two complementary projections splitting the space of velocities into the space of admissible and inadmissible velocities respectively are constructed. They are uniquely determined by a condition of mass-orthogonality. A consistent description of the dynamics of the constrained system results. The constraint reactions are given as functions of position and velocities and an explicit system of differential equations for the motion of the constrained system is derived.