A recursive algorithm for generating the equations of motion of spatial mechanical systems with application to the five-point suspension

In this paper, a recursive formulation for generating the equations of motion of spatial mechanical systems is presented. The rigid bodies are replaced by a dynamically equivalent constrained system of particles which avoids introducing any rotational coordinates. For the open-chain system, the equations of motion are generated recursively along the serial chains using the concepts of linear and angular momenta. Closed-chain systems are transformed to open-chain systems by cutting suitable kinematic joints and introducing cut-joint constraints. The formulation is used to carry out the dynamic analysis of multi-link five-point suspension. The results of the simulation demonstrate the generality and simplicity of the proposed dynamic formulation.