Local modal reduction in explicit dynamics with domain decomposition. Part 1: extension to subdomains undergoing finite rigid rotations

We present an extension of the dual Schur multidomain method with local linear modal reduction previously introduced by Gravouil, Combescure, Herry and Faucher to the case of modal reduction on geometrically non‐linear vibrating subdomains. This first part of a two‐part paper describes a new formalism, based on an original set of parameters, to represent a subdomain's finite rigid‐body motion. Special attention is paid to the stability issues with time integration using the central difference scheme. The method is validated on an academic example and its efficiency is demonstrated on a large‐scale example. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.