This paper considers instantaneous impulses in multibody dynamics. Instantaneous impulses may act on the multibody from its exterior or they may appear in its interior as a consequence of two of its parts interacting by an impact imposed by a unilateral constraint. The theory is based on the Euler laws of instantaneous impulses, which may be seen as a complement to the Euler laws for regular motions. Based on these laws, and specific continuum properties of the quantities involved, local balance laws for momentum and moment of momentum, involving instantaneous impulses and introducing the Cauchy impulse tensor, are derived. Thermodynamical restrictions on the impulse tensor are formulated based on the dissipation inequality. By stating a principle of virtual work for instantaneous impulses, and demonstrating its equivalence to Euler’s laws, Lagrange’s equations are derived. Lagrange’s equations are convenient to use in the case of multibody dynamics containing rigid as well as flexible parts. A central theme of this paper is the discussion of the interaction between parts of the multibody and their relation to geometrical and kinematical constraints. This interaction is severely affected by the presence of friction, which is notoriously difficult to handle. In a preparation for this discussion we first consider the one-point impact between two rigid bodies. The importance of the so-called impact tensor for this problem is demonstrated. In order to be able to handle the impact laws of Poisson and Stonge, an impact process, governed by a system of ordinary differential equations, is defined. Within this model phenomena, such as slip stop, slip start and slip direction reversal, may be handled. For a multibody with an arbitrary number of parts and multiple impacts, the situation is much more complicated and certain simplifications have to be introduced. Equations of motion for a multibody, consisting of rigid parts and in the presence of ideal bilateral constraints and unilateral constraints involving friction, are formulated. Unique solutions are obtained, granted that the mass matrix of the multibody system is non-singular, the constraint matrices satisfy specific full rank conditions and that the friction is not too high.
The Principle of Activity and Lagrange's Equations. Rotation of a Rigid Body