Viscoelastic analysis of multi-body systems using the finite element method

A study of the effect of viscoelastic material damping on the dynamic response of multibody systems, consisting of interconnected rigid, elastic and viscoelastic components, is presented. The motion of each elastic or viscoelastic body is identified by using three sets of modes: rigid body, reference and normal modes. Rigid body modes describe translation and large angular rotation of a body reference. Reference modes are the result of imposing the body-axis conditions. Normal modes define the deformation of the body relative to the body reference. Constraints between different components are formulated by using a set of non-linear algebraic equations that can be introduced to the dynamic formulation by using a Lagrange multiplier technique or can be utilized to eliminate dependent co-ordinates by partitioning the constraint Jacobian matrix. In developing the system equations of motion of the viscoelastic component, an assumption of a linear viscoelastic model is made. A Kelvin-Voigt model is employed, wherein the stress is assumed to be proportional to the strain and its time derivative. The formulation yields a constant damping matrix and the damping forces depend only on the local deformation; thus, no additional coupling between the reference and elastic co-ordinates appears in the formulation when considering the viscoelastic effects. It is demonstrated, by a numerical example, that the viscoelastic material damping can have a significant effect on the dynamic response of multibody systems.