Dynamic Analysis of a Chain of Rigid Rods

In this study, a recursive algorithm for generating the equations of motion of a chain of rigid rods is presented. The methods rests upon the idea of replacing the rigid body by a dynamically equivalent constrained system of particles. The concepts of linear and angular momentums are used to generate the rigid body equations of motion without either introducing any rotational coordinates or the corresponding transformation matrices. For open-chain, the equations of motion are generated recursively along the serial chains. For closed-chain, the system is transformed to open-chain by cutting suitable kinematic joints with the addition of cut-joints kinematic constraints. An example of a closed-chain of rigid rods is chosen to demonstrate the generality and simplicity of the proposed method.