This project is carried out as a part of the NSF Research Centers - Small Firms Collaborative R&D initiative, under the leadership of the Cener for Virtual Proving Ground Simulation, an IUCRC established by the National Science Foundation.
Research in the IUCRC for Virtual Proving Ground Simulation has recently led to fundamentally new numerical methods that enable accurate and efficient simulation of broad classes of mechanical systems that were previously intractable using commercial software. Stiff integrators for the differential-algebraic equations of mechanical system dynamics, based on implicit Runge-Kutta methods recently developed by the numerical analysis community, have been cre3ated in the Center that yield two orders of magnitude speed-up for stiff systems, compared to existing methods. The algorithms created have reliable error control and have the potential to effectively deal with intermittent effects that abound in industrial applications. The I/UCRC Industrial Advisory Board has instructed the Center to work with CADSI, a small business member of the Center, to transition this new technology into its DADS software product that is marketed nationally and internationally and is used extensively by Center members. The present joint work by the I/UCRC and CADSI is to jointly develop effective new numerical methods; implement and test them in the Center's open computing environment, using selected advanced computational subroutines provided by CADSI; demonstrate them on applications defined by CADSI and other I/UCRC members; and transfer them to CADSI for commercialization. The focus of the research and development is on the following important classes of industrial applications:
(1) Large-scale stiff mechanical systems (e.g., vehicles, aircraft, spacecraft) (2) Intermittent effects (e.g., Coulomb friction, gears, and chains/track; contact/impact in mechanical systems; and switch-induced dynamics in power electronic drives and hydraulic drives)
