Computer Simulation of Three-Dimensional Mechanical Assemblies: Part I — General Formulation

In Part I of this paper, a dynamic modeling system for the simulation of three dimensional mechanical assemblies is presented. With this simulation tool, a designer can interactively create an assembly of mechanical components ready for dynamic analysis. The modeling system presented in this paper includes the derivation of the equations of motion of spatial multi-body systems, and the formulation of the equations to model the associated collision detection and collision responses. Part II of this paper is to introduce the geometry modeling and computer simulation of 3D systems.