"The primary purpose of this book is to develop methods for the dynamic analysis of multibody systems (MBS) that consist of interconnected rigid and deformable components. In that sense, the objective may be considered as a generalization of methods of structural and rigid body analysis. Many mechanical and structural systems such as vehicles, space structures, robotics, mechanisms, and aircraft consist of interconnected components that undergo large translational and rotational displacements. Figure 1.1 shows examples of such systems that can be modeled as multibody systems. In general, a multibody system is defined to be a collection of subsystems called bodies, components, or substructures. The motion of the subsystems is kinematically constrained because of different types of joints, and each subsystem or component may undergo large translations and rotational displacements"-- |