ABSTRACT
Body-coordinate formulation is a method suitable for implementation in a computer program; the method is not recommended for the pencil and paper approach. This chapter presents the body-coordinate formulation of constraint equations for several commonly used kinematic joints. It derives the velocity and acceleration constraints for some commonly used kinematic joints. The chapter eliminates the relative translation between the two bodies differently. It considers body as a moving body in order to make the process of constructing the overall Jacobian matrix more easily understood. The chapter observes that the Lagrange multipliers represent exactly the reaction force or the reaction torque associated with a joint. The main difference is that the body-coordinate method generates the equations systematically without the need to construct a free-body diagram (FBD) first. The developed systematic process can enable a computer program to automatically construct the complete set of equations of motion for a multibody system.
