Modular modelling of flexible thin beams in multibody systems

In this paper the problem of modelling flexible thin beams in multibody systems is tackled. The proposed model, implemented with the object-oriented physical systems modelling language Modelica, is completely modular, allowing the realization of complex systems by simple aggregation of basic components. The finite element method is employed as the basic scheme to spatially discretize the model equations; exploiting the modular features of the language, a new discretization scheme (mixed finite element-finite volume) is derived as well. Selected simulation results are presented in order to validate the model with respect to both theoretical predictions and literature reference results.