On the Lagrange multipliers of the intrinsic constraint equations of rigid multibody mechanical systems

This paper deals with the Lagrange multipliers corresponding to the intrinsic constraint equations of rigid multibody mechanical systems. The intrinsic constraint equations are algebraic equations that are associated with nonminimal sets of orientation parameters employed for the kinematic representation of large finite rotations. Two coordinate formulations are analyzed in this investigation, namely the reference point coordinate formulation (RPCF) with Euler parameters and the natural absolute coordinate formulation (NACF). While the RPCF with Euler parameters employs the four components of a unit quaternion as rotational coordinates, the NACF directly uses the orthonormal set of nine direction cosines for describing the orientation of a rigid body in the three-dimensional space. In the multibody approaches based on the RPCF with Euler parameters and on the NACF, the use of a nonminimal set of rotational coordinates facilitates a general and systematic formulation of the differential–algebraic equations of motion. Considering the basic equations of classical mechanics, the fundamental problem of constrained motion is formalized and solved in this paper by using a special form of the Udwadia–Kalaba method. By doing so, the Udwadia–Kalaba equations are employed for obtaining closed-form analytical solutions for the Lagrange multipliers associated with the intrinsic constraint equations that appear in the differential–algebraic dynamic equations developed by using the RPCF with Euler parameters and the NACF multibody approaches. Two simple numerical examples support the analytical results found in this paper.