Chapter 5: Using Component Mode Synthesis Superelements in a Multibody Analysis

Obtaining the flexible response of a body or bodies to a dynamic motion event typically involves solving hundreds or thousands of time points. If a flexible body has many degrees of freedom, a multibody analysis can be time-consuming. To minimize the necessary computing resources, you can use component mode synthesis (CMS) superelements (substructures) to replace the many thousands of degrees of freedom of the flexible body with tens of degrees of freedom that represent the dynamic response, thereby significantly reducing the required multibody analysis run time.

The following topics describe the approach required to perform a substructure-based multibody analysis, including recovering the time-dependent flexible response:

For an example of how to set up and use a substructuring in a multibody analysis, see Example Multibody Analysis: Crank Slot Mechanism.