Description of rigid-flexible multibody system with large deformations

This paper deals with the formulation of multibody systems that interconnect rigid and flexible solids which can show large deformations. The general motion of the rigid solids is described with natural coordinates while an absolute nodal coordinate formulation is used for the flexible bodies. In this way all rigid body and nodal coordinates are referred to a single inertial frame of reference. This formulation leads to a constant mass matrix and a minimum set of constraint equations. In particular, the formulation of sliding joints, that require constraint equations, are generated.