The Modeling of Flexible Bodies in the object-oriented multi-domain Framework Modelica

Abstract

The object-oriented language Modelica presents a modeling framework to interconnect components from different engineering disciplines such as mechanics, electrics, thermodynamics, control etc. and to set-up multi-domain simulations tasks in one consistent environment. Due to the underlying modeling ideas of Modelica the implementation of flexible body components in this framework relies on specific considerations, which are the main focus of the paper. Therefore the conceptual ideas of Modelica are shortly introduced first. Then, the handling of multibody particularies in Modelica are addressed. The theory and the user interface of the DLR FlexibleBodies Library, which is based on the Standard Input Data (SID) format, are presented. A survey on a modular electric vehicle and its suspension system demonstrates, how a multi-domain model with flexible components may be set-up and simulated.