The Dynamics Workbench
About the Dynamics Workbench
The Dynamics Workbench is a
Mathematica package which can be used to analyze
dynamics of arbitrary multibody systems. It is more flexible than many
commercial packages, and is easier to use than many advanced packages. It is
based on Kane's method, and offers three levels of use. At the introductory
level, it allows one to assemble dynamic systems by connecting together
rigid bodies using predefined joints. More advanced users can have access to
functions which perform calculations such as partial velocities or angular
momentum, and can define their own joints. At the most advanced level, users
can use the Dynamics Workbench as a dynamics calculator, which performs
vector arithmetic and calculus on multiple reference frames.
Update: 3.6 The Dynamics Workbench has been updated to remove a name conflict with Mathematica 5.0.
Update: 3.7 Fixed a change in Mathematica's dot product, which caused in slow dot products for large systems.
Example: Analysis of a pendulum
This is a brief example of an analysis of a pendulum, done with the
Dynamics Workbench. It is available as a Mathematica
notebook, and as a PDF document. Note that the notebook is a text
document and can be read on any platform that runs Mathematica,
but some pictures may not display properly (the pictures were generated
on a Macintosh). If this is the case, the pictures can be viewed from
the PDF document.
Pendulum.nb: [Notebook] [PDF]
Example: Ballistic walking plus tutorial
This is an example of a slightly more advanced system, in which a nonlinear
system is simulated. The system models ballistic motion of the swing leg
during human locomotion, form Mochon & McMahon's 1985 paper in Journal of
Biomechanics. This document also contains a tutorial and a short
description of commands for the Dynamics Workbench.
As in the example above, the notebook is a text document,
with embedded pictures which may not display properly. Use the PDF document
if this is the case on your system.
Ballistic walking example & tutorial DW_Tutorial.nb: [Notebook]
[PDF]
The Dynamics Workbench Package v3.7
The Dynamics Workbench is copyrighted but may be copied without charge. It
is a Mathematica package in text format, and should be compatible with
any platform which can run Mathematica. Documentation for the Dynamics
Workbench is work in progress. Please e-mail feedback to
artkuo@umich.edu.
DynamicsWorkbench.m: [Package]
If you don't own a copy of Mathematica, you can
download
MathReader, which is a free viewer for Mathematica documents.
You may also need Adobe Acrobat
to read PDF files.