High Speed Multibody Dynamic Simulation and its Impact on Man-Machine Systems.- An Object-Oriented Data Model for Multibody Systems.- Block-Oriented Modelling of Rigid Multibody Systems With Regard to Subsystem Techniques.- A Software Environment for Analysis and Design of Multibody Systems.- CAD Modelling, Multibody System Formalisms and Visualization - An Integrated Approach.- The Benefits of Parallel Multibody Simulation and its Application to Vehicle Dynamics.- Recent Advances in the Numerical Integration of Multibody Systems.- Symbolical Programming in System Dynamics.- Dynamic Analysis of Complex Multibody Systems Using Methods for Differential-Algebraic Equations.- Multibody Systems with Rigid-Elastic Subsystems.- On the Dynamics of Multibody Systems With Elastic Beams.- Approximate Analysis of Flexible Parts in Multibody Systems Using the Finite Element Method.- Modelling of Viscoelastic Elastomer Mounts in Multibody Systems.- Simulation of Failure Scenarios for Movable Steel Structures.- Optimal Positioning of Viscous Dampers in Linear Multibody Systems.- Signal Analysis in Multibody Systems.- Computational Aspects of the Finite Element Approach to Flexible Multibody Systems.- DYNAMITE: Multibody Dynamics via Projection Method.- ACIDYM, a Modular Software for Computer-Aided Learning of Kinematic and Dynamic Analysis of Multibody Systems.- VDAS - A Toolkit Approach to Vehicle System Simulation.- ROBOTRAN: Symbolic Generation of Multi-Body System Dynamic Equations.- SMS: An Easy-To-Use 3D-Simulation Package for CIM.- Two Different Methods for Simulating the Motion of Variable-Mass Multibody Systems.- Simulation of the Dynamic Behaviour of Complex Multiaxle Systems with Controlled Driving Axes.- ODE Formulations for Multibody Dynamics: Numerical Aspects.- Deployment Kinematics and Dynamics Simulations of Large Reflectors.- Determination of Dynamic Stresses by Multibody Dynamic Models Incorporating Flexible Body Analysis - Applications of DADS.- Dynamic Analysis of Constrained Multibody Systems in Orthonormalized Tangent Space.- An Overview of MEXX: Numerical Software for Integration of Multibody Systems.- A Parameter Estimation Method for Multibody Systems with Constraints.- Boundary Element Methods for Contact Problems.- Integration of Recursive Equations of Motion for Multibody Systems with Loops.- Standard Input Data of Flexible Members in Multibody Systems.- Constrained Mechanical Systems in Descriptor Form: Identification, Simulation and Control.- Parameter Identification of Nonlinear Descriptor Systems.- Control Analysis and Synthesis of Linear Mechanical Descriptor Systems.- An Extended Descriptor Form for the Simulation of Constrained Mechnical Systems.

The German Research Council (DFG) decided 1987 to establish a nationwide five year research project devoted to dynamics of multibody systems. In this project universities and research centers cooperated with the goal to develop a general pur­ pose multibody system software package. This concept provides the opportunity to use a modular structure of the software, i.e. different multibody formalisms may be combined with different simulation programmes via standardized interfaces. For the DFG project the database RSYST was chosen using standard FORTRAN 77 and an object oriented multibody system datamodel was defined. The project included . research on the fundamentals of the method of multibody systems, . concepts for new formalisms of dynamical analysis, . development of efficient numerical algorithms and . realization of a powerful software package of multibody systems. These goals required an interdisciplinary cooperation between mathematics, compu­ ter science, mechanics, and control theory. ix X After a rigorous reviewing process the following research institutions participated in the project (under the responsibility of leading scientists): Technical University of Aachen (Prof. G. Sedlacek) Technical University of Darmstadt (Prof. P. Hagedorn) University of Duisburg M. Hiller) (Prof.