Non-smooth flexible multi-body systems with non-primitive contours

This article shows the formulation of flexible multi-body systems for contact dynamics. A short introduction is given on the mathematical formulation of non-smooth multi-body systems, which are marked by jumps within the system velocities. The paper focuses on the geometrical description of flexible components: these can be modeled directly in the system or gained from external pre-processes like for example finite element codes. Since the contact algorithms require contour information, the body shapes need to be interpolated independent from the description used for dynamics within external codes. The interpolation can respond especially on the requirements of contact simulations. Discrete nodes of the external mesh are used as reference and interface for contacts. Two examples show the potential of the formulations: an eccentrically excited machine on elastic ground and a bunch of dice falling into an elastic basin.