DYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF MECHANICAL SYSTEMS IN PARTLY SPECIFIED MOTION

The paper presents a systematic formulation for the dynamic analysis a nd synthesis of control of mechanical systems in partly specified moti on. The motion specifications are modelled as program constraints on a controlled system, and the control that ensures their realization is determined. it is shown that program constraints may be realized by ta ngent control reactions with respect to the program constraint manifol d, and this yields a very specific structure of the governing equation s of the the problem. The equations arise as DAEs, and the index of th e the DAEs may considerably exceed three. Index five and index 2n+1 DA Es that describe control problems in mechanics are reported as illustr ations. A method for analyzing the system motion consistent with the c onstraints and based on the solution, synthesizing the program control is developed and applied to solve the mentioned case studies. (C) 199 7 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.