Solution Procedures for Maneuvering Multibody Dynamics Problems for Vehicle Models of Varying Complexity

We describe a suite of solution procedures for the solution of optimal control problems in vehicle dynamics, which find applicability in the modeling of maneuvers at the boundaries of the vehicle operating envelope. The procedures described here cater for a wide range of multibody vehicle models of varying complexity, from coarse models capable of only capturing the slower scale solution components, all the way to fine scale models characterized by many degrees of freedoms and faster solution scales. The methods are of general applicability, and are readily applicable to existing multibody software implementations. Numerical applications in rotorcraft flight mechanics are used to illustrate some of the features of the proposed procedures.