Iterative coordinate reduction algorithm of flexible multibody dynamics using a posteriori eigenvalue error estimation

Coordinate reduction has been widely used for efficient simulation of flexible multibody dynamics. To achieve the reduction of flexible bodies with reasonable accuracy, the appropriate number of dominant modes used for the reduction process must be selected. To handle this issue, an iterative coordinate reduction strategy is introduced. In the iteration step, more dominant modes of flexible bodies are selected than the ones in the previous step. Among the various methods, the conventional frequency cut-off rule is here considered. As a stop criterion, a novel a posteriori error estimator that can evaluate the relative eigenvalue error between full and reduced flexible bodies is proposed. Through the estimated relative eigenvalue error obtained, the number of dominant modes is automatically selected to satisfy the error tolerance up to the desired mode range. The applicability to the automation process is verified through numerical examples. It is also evaluated that efficient and accurate flexible multibody dynamics simulation is available with the reduced flexible body, generated by the proposed algorithm.