A Regularized Contact Model for Multibody System Simulation

Simulation of large-scale multibody systems with unilateral contacts requires formulations with which good computational performance can be achieved. The availability of many solver algorithms for Linear Complementarity Problems (LCP) makes the LCP-based formulations a good candidate for this. However, considering friction in contacts asks for new friction models compatible with this kind of formulations. Here, a new, regularized friction model is presented to approximate the Coulomb model, which allows to formulate the multibody system dynamics as a LCP with bounds. Moreover, a bristle approach is used to approximate the stiction force, so that it improves the numerical behaviour of the system and makes it able to handle redundancy coming from the friction interfaces. Several examples using a 3D wheel model has been carried out, and the proposed friction model shows a better approximation of the Coulomb model compared to other LCP-based formulations.