A HYBRID COMPUTATION ENVIRONMENT FOR MULTIBODY SIMULATION

A simulation architecture capable of generating the dynamical equations of a multibody system symbolically, automatically creating the computer code to simulate these equations numerically, run the simulation and display the results using animation and graphics is discussed. The power of object-oriented programming is used systematically to manipulate the symbolic, numeric and graphic modules and produce an effective tool for understanding the complicated motions of multibody systems. The architecture has been implemented in OOPSS (Object-Oriented Planar System Simulator) a software package written in a multilanguage (MACSYMA-FORTRAN-LISP) environment. The package supports user interface capable of interactively modifying system parameters. change runtime initial conditions and introduce feedback control.