Preface: Thematic issue on multibody dynamics 2015

Abstract

Multibody system dynamics is a branch of computational mechanics that deals with modeling principles and computational methods for the dynamic analysis, simulation, and control of complex mechanical systems. These appear in a large spectrum of domains ranging, for example, from standard industrial production of vehicles, rotational machines and mechatronic devices to emerging application fields where biomolecular structures and smart materials are studied at the nanodimensional level. Such versatility of applications is rooted in the basic modeling principles of the discipline, which, being based on the kinematical and dynamical coupling of rigid and flexible bodies with different characteristics and mechanical properties, serve as a powerful tool to study the mechanical and multiphysics behavior of a broad class of systems in engineering and applied sciences.

Full Document