The status and some recent developments in computational modeling of flexible multibody systems are summarized. Discussion focuses on a number of aspects of flexible multibody dynamics including: modeling of the flexible components, constraint modeling, solution techniques, control strategies, coupled problems, design, and experimental studies. The characteristics of the three types of reference frames used in modeling flexible multibody systems, namely, floating frame, corotational frame, and inertial frame, are compared. Future directions of research are identified. These include new applications such as micro- and nano-mechanical systems; techniques and strategies for increasing the fidelity and computational efficiency of the models; and tools that can improve the design process of flexible multibody systems. This review article cites 877 references. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1590354#

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Computational strategies for flexible multibody systems

Mechanical model development of rolling bearing-rotor systems: A review

A Review of Elastic–Plastic Contact Mechanics

Non-linear dynamic behaviors of rolling element bearings due to surface waviness

Application of the EMD method in the vibration analysis of ball bearings

A mathematical formulation for the contact of rough surfaces is presented. The derivation of the contact model is facilitated through the definition of plastic asperities that are assumed to be embedded at a critical depth within the actual surface asperities. The surface asperities are assumed to deform elastically whereas the plastic asperities experience only plastic deformation. The deformation of plastic asperities is made to obey the law of conservation of volume. It is believed that the proposed model is advantageous since (a) it provides a more accurate account of elastic–plastic behavior of surfaces in contact and (b) it is applicable to model formulations that involve asperity shoulder-to-shoulder contact. Comparison of numerical results for estimating true contact area and contact force using the proposed model and the earlier methods suggest that the proposed approach provides a more realistic prediction of elastic–plastic contact behavior.

Elastic–plastic contact model for rough surfaces based on plastic asperity concept

Approximate closed-form equations governing the shoulder-shoulder contact of asperities are derived based on a generalization by Chang, Etsion, and Bogy. The work entails the consideration of asperity shoulder-shoulder contact in which the volume conservation is assumed in the plastic flow regime. Shoulder-shoulder asperity contact gives rise to a slanted contact force comprising tangential and normal components. Each force component comprises elastic and plastic terms, which upon statistical summation yields the force component for the elastic and plastic forces for the contact of two rough surfaces. Half-plane tangential force due to elastic-plastic contact is derived through the statistical summation of tangential force component along an arbitrary tangential direction. Two sets of equations are found. In the first set of equations the functional forms are simpler and provide approximation of contact force to within 9%. The second set is enhanced equations derived from the first set of approximate equations that achieve an accuracy of within 0.2%.

Closed-Form Equations for Three Dimensional Elastic-Plastic Contact of Nominally Flat Rough Surfaces

This paper, the first of two companion papers, presents a model for investigating structural vibrations in rolling element bearings. The analytical formulation accounts for tangential and radial motions of the rolling elements, as well as the cage, the inner and the outer races. The contacts between the rolling elements and races are treated as nonlinear springs whose stiffnesses are obtained by application of the equation for Hertzian elastic contact deformation. The derivation of the equations of motion is facilitated by assuming that only rolling contact exists between the races and rolling elements. Application of Lagrange's equations leads to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations governing the motion of the bearing system. These equations are then solved using the Runge-Kutta integration technique. Using the formulation in the second part-A Nonlinear Model for Structural Vibrations in Rolling Element Bearings: Part II-Simulation and Results, a number of effects on bearing structural vibrations are studied. This work is unique from previous studies in that the model simulates vibration from intrinsic properties and constituent elements of the bearing, and takes into account every contact region within the bearing, representing it by a nonlinear spring.

A Nonlinear Model for Structural Vibrations in Rolling Element Bearings: Part I—Derivation of Governing Equations

A hybrid interactive/optimization technique is used to derive in approximate closed-form equations relating contact load to mean plane separation. Equations governing Hertz contact for the interaction of surface asperities are considered in which asperity shoulder-to-shoulder contact results in normal and tangential components of force. The normal component of asperity force is summed statistically to find total normal force between the two surfaces. The tangential force over a half-plane corresponding to a select direction is found accounting for the directionality of the tangential component of asperity forces. Two sets of approximate equations are found for each of the normal and half-plane tangential force components. The simplest forms of the approximate equations achieve accuracy to within 5% error, while other forms yield approximation error within 0.2%.

On Elastic Interaction of Nominally Flat Rough Surfaces

Spherical 4R mechanisms are studied for which the crank is relatively smaller than the remaining links. The theory of small-crank mechanisms is applied to obtain approximate descriptions for the follower angular displacement in terms of the input crank angle. The follower angle is presumed to comprise a mean and a perturbational motion. This results in an approximate expression in which the follower displacement is given as a linear combination of simple harmonic functions of the first and second harmonics of the crank angle. The approximate equations are utilized for synthesis of spherical 4R mechanisms for function generation. In contrast to the conventional design procedures, the use of the approximate equations allows the synthesis of spherical mechanisms in which a prescribed function is satisfied for the entire motion of the mechanism. In addition to design examples, sample error charts are provided to assist the designer in ascertaining feasible ranges for design and corresponding orders of error.

Kambiz Farhang

Papers

Elastic–plastic contact model for rough surfaces based on plastic asperity concept

Closed-Form Equations for Three Dimensional Elastic-Plastic Contact of Nominally Flat Rough Surfaces

A Nonlinear Model for Structural Vibrations in Rolling Element Bearings: Part I—Derivation of Governing Equations

On Elastic Interaction of Nominally Flat Rough Surfaces

Design of spherical 4R mechanisms : Function generation for the entire motion cycle