I have used the free, multi body dynamics software MBDyn for a while now. It is a good program and also fits my needs. There are good manuals, basic tutorials and examples to be found. There is also a mailing list. The plotting program I had to write myself but there are even suggestions for how to do that.But as I get further into MBDyn I find slight problems constructing the models. I can't say if it is only my own lack of background in engineering and algebra that is the problem. (MBDyn interfaces with the graphical environment Blender, both for input and output, but for me a text interface for input is sufficient, so far.)So my question is:What multi body dynamics softwares are available?I am interested in connecting solid objects by elastic and deformable joints, like hinges, ball joints etc. I wish to see how the bodies move when forces are applied and springs and damping interact with the connected bodies.I have never worked with the Finite Elements Method (FEM). I don't think that is what I need. I think that is more for modeling continuous structures like fluids, gases, solid materials etc. (I wish to model beams, but I think that this also done in multi body dynamics (MBDyn does it well). I don't need any detailed internal information from the beam. I just need to know a little bit how it bends.) I do not need any information about internal forces in the objects, just how they move.So please tell, what multi body dynamics softwares exist? And, if possible, what are their differences?Thank you.
What multi body dynamics softwares exist?
computational physics
Your question is really too broad for this site.There are dozens of commercial and open sourcemultibody dynamics codes, many of which can be identifiedby simple Google search.Since you didn't restrict your question to open source, I'llmention two commercial packages that have been very widely used for morethan 20 years:MSC/Adamshttp://www.mscsoftware.com/product/adamsLMS/DADShttps://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/lms/virtual-lab/legacy-applications/dads.shtmlI suggest you take a look at the survey paper,Computational strategies for flexible multibody systems, by Wasfy and Noor that focuses on addingflexibility effects to rigid body dynamics codes. It also mentions the two codes I list above.A pdf version of this paper is currently available here: http://hosting.umons.ac.be/html/mecara/grasmech/PaperWasfyNoor.pdfThis site (http://sbel.wisc.edu/Courses/ME451/2014/), contains a course on multibody dynamics taughtat the University of Wisconsin. Among other useful documents, it contains a copy of a book on thistopic by Edward Haug, one of the original authors of the DADS code. This book discusses differentapproaches for multi- rigid body dynamics so should help to answer your question about differencesamong the various codes.Finally, you say you are not interested in FEM. But you should understand that, from a software pointof view, in recent years, the distinction between FE codes that perform nonlinear structural dynamicsand multibody dynamics codes that include flexiblity effects has become very blurred. On the one hand,the Abaqus FE code (http://www.3ds.com/products-services/simulia/products/abaqus/)has a wide variety of joints and links for constructing mechanisms. On the other hand, the multibody dynamicscode you mention, MBDyn, has a relatively general library of (essentially) finite elements for modelingflexible bodies. You can easily find several papers where MBDyn has been used for solving structural analysisproblems that, traditionally, would have been solved by a FE structural code.