DETERMINATION OF THE FEEDBACK COEFFICIENTS FOR THE CONSTRAINT VIOLATION STABILIZATION METHOD

A constraint violation stabilization method has been used to solve a mixed set of algebraic and differential equations formulated for the dynamic analysis of a constrained mechanical system. However, the absence of a clear-cut method for determining the feedback coefficients associated with this method makes it unattractive and unreliable for its user. This paper presents a method for determining the optimal feedback coefficients which minimize the propagation of constraint violation. This method is based on the stability analysis for the error propagation dynamics of the modified constrained equation containing the feedback coefficients, which is discretized by the Runge-Kutta method in discrete time domain. Two examples show that the proposed method is effective and easily applicable to general non-linear dynamic systems. © 1990, Institution of Mechanical Engineers. All rights reserved.