A new computer-based method for automated design sensitivity analysis of dynamic mechanical systems is developed. The equations of motion are formulated in terms of a minimal set of relative coordinates. An adjoint variable method is used to compute variations in dynamic performance measures due to changes in design. The equations of motion and the adjoint equations, which are systems of differential-algebraic equations, are integrated using a generalized coordinate partitioning method based on singular value decomposition of the constraint Jacobian matrix. Symbolic processing language MACSYMA is used to develop the required equations and to implement them in FORTRAN subroutines.
