Stiffness and deformation of mechanisms with locally flexible bodies: A general method using expanded passive joints

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology that allows the stiffness and deformation analysis of locally flexible bodies using passive joints. The proposed model takes into account the influence of the external and internal loadings on the axial and shear deformation of the mechanical components depending of the mechanism configuration, this technique is denominated as the expanded passive joints method (EPJM). The Davies method is used to obtain the static of the mechanism, and the simulation example is presented to demonstrate the ability of this technique.