Next Generation Multibody Simulation Software

Most systems we interact with are dynamic systems and among those, multibody systems are pervasive. A multibody system is any physical system which may be modeled as interconnected rigid or flexible bodies which includes all manner of machines and mechanisms ranging from terrestrial vehicles and space structures to manufacturing equipment, robots, micro, nano, molecular, and bio-mechanical systems. The role of multibody analysis in the successful design of these systems is critical and advances in multibody simulation technologies make the next generation of dynamic system designs possible. This proposal presents a plan for the development of a multibody modeling and simulation framework using new multi-fidelity simulation and linking directly to CAD geometries and design parameters. The objective is to unify multibody analysis activities across all levels of modeling fidelity to achieve new levels of simulation performance. The framework frees the multibody analyst from the tedious model transcription and maintenance tasks so that attention can be focused on improving the analytical abstractions which lead to faster simulations and better system design, capabilities which other domains will seek to duplicate.