A Differentiable Null Space Method for Constrained Dynamic Analysis

A geometric approach to the solution of the dynamic response of constrained mechanical systems is proposed. A continuous and differentiable basis of the constraint null space is automatically generated using the Gram-Schmidt process. The independent coordinates are obtained by transforming the physical velocity coordinates to the tangent hyperplane of the constraint surface. As a result the independent coordinates lie on the constraint surface and no constraint violation control is necessary.