The reverse method of lines in flexible multibody dynamics

Abstract

Adaptivity is a crucial prerequisite for efficient and reliable simulations. In multibody dynamics, adaptive time integration methods are standard today, but the treatment of elastic bodies is still based on an a priori fixed spatial discretization. This contribution introduces a basic algorithm in the fashion of the reverse method of lines that is able to adapt both the spatial grid and the time step size from step to step. Two examples, a catenary with a moving pantograph head and a flexible slider crank mechanism, illustrate the approach.