Adaptive Time Integration Method for DAEs of Multibody Systems

An adaptive time integration method is developed for the index-3 differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) of multibody systems to improve the computational efficiency as well as the accuracy of the results. Based on the modified general-α method, the adaptive time integration is presented. At each discrete time interval, the time step size is changed through Richardson extrapolation with definable computation accuracy. A rotary rod slider system is used to validate the presented adaptive time integration. The accuracy and efficiency are determined by the expected order of the accuracy in Richardson extrapolation.