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Contents

Index

• Getting Started

• Product Overview

Product Definition

Mechanical Simulation and Physical Modeling

• Related Products

Required Products

Other Related Products

• Running a Demo Model

What the Demo Represents

Viewing a Mechanical Drawing of the Conveyor

What the Demo Illustrates

Opening the Model

Running the Model

Modifying the Model

Visualizing and Animating the Model

• What You Can Do with SimMechanics Software

About SimMechanics Software

Modeling Mechanical Systems

Bodies, Coordinate Systems, Joints, and Constraints

Sensors, Actuators, Friction, and Force Elements

Simulating and Analyzing Mechanical Motion

Visualizing and Animating Models

For More Information

• Learning More

Using the MATLAB Help System for Documentation and Demos

Finding Special SimMechanics Help

• Introducing the SimMechanics Block Libraries

About the SimMechanics Block Library

Accessing the Libraries

Using the Libraries

• Essential Steps to Building and Running a Mechanical Model

About Machine Modeling and Simulation

Essential Steps to Build a Model

Essential Steps to Configure and Run a Model

• Modeling and Simulating a Simple Machine

Modeling the Simple Pendulum

Opening the SimMechanics Block Library

The World Coordinate System and Gravity

Configuring the Ground

Configuring the Body

Configuring the Joint

Adding a Sensor and Starting the Simulation

• Visualizing a Simple Machine

Visualizing and Animating the Simple Pendulum

Starting Visualization

Selecting a Body Geometry

Displaying the Pendulum

Modeling and Visualizing More Complex Machines

• Modeling and Simulating a Closed-Loop Machine

Modeling the Four Bar Mechanism

Viewing a Mechanical Drawing of the Four Bar Mechanism

Counting the Degrees of Freedom

Configuring the Mechanical Environment

Setting Up the Block Diagram

Configuring the Ground and Joints

Configuring the Bodies

Sensing Motion and Running the Model

For More About the Four Bar Mechanism

• Kinematics and Machine Motion State

About Kinematics

Degrees of Freedom

The State of Motion

Home, Initial, and Assembled Configurations

For More Information

• Representations of Body Motion

About Body Motion

Machine Geometry and Motion

Reference Frames and Coordinate Systems

Relating Coordinate Systems in Relative Motion

Observing Body Motion in Different Coordinate Systems

Representing Body Translations and Rotations

• Representations of Body Orientation

About Body Orientation Representations

Axis-Angle Representation

Quaternion Representation

Rotation Matrix Representation

Euler Angle Representation

Converting Rotation Representations

Converting the Angular Velocity

• Orienting a Body and Its Coordinate Systems

About the Body Orientation Examples

Setting Up the Test Body

Rotating the Body and Its CG CS Relative to World

Rotating the Body Relative to Its Center of Gravity

Creating and Rotating Body Coordinate Systems

• User's Guide

• Modeling Mechanical Systems

• Representing Machines with Models

About SimMechanics Models

Creating a SimMechanics Model

Connecting SimMechanics Blocks

Interfacing SimMechanics Blocks to Simulink Blocks

Creating SimMechanics Subsystems

Creating Custom SimMechanics Blocks with Masks

• Modeling Grounds and Bodies

About Bodies and Grounds

Modeling Grounds

Modeling Rigid Bodies

Working with Body Coordinate Systems

• Modeling Degrees of Freedom

Modeling Joints

Creating a Joint

Modeling Massless Connectors

Modeling Disassembled Joints

• Constraining and Driving Degrees of Freedom

About Constraints

Types of Mechanical Constraints

What Constraints and Drivers Do

Directionality of Constraints and Drivers

Solving Constraints

Restrictions on Constraint and Driver Blocks

Constraint Example: Gear Constraint

Driver Example: Angle Driver

• Cutting Machine Diagram Loops

Rules for Valid Machine Diagram Loops

Rules for Automatic Loop Cutting

Specifying a Loop Joint for Cutting

Displaying the Cut Joints

For More About Disassembled and Cut Joints

For More About Constraints and Drivers

• Applying Motions and Forces

About Actuators

Actuating a Body

Varying a Body's Mass and Inertia Tensor

Actuating a Joint

Actuating a Driver

Specifying Initial Positions and Velocities

• Sensing Motions and Forces

Sensing Body Motions

Sensing Joint Motions and Forces

Sensing Constraint Reaction Forces

• Adding Internal Forces

About Force Elements

Inserting a Linear Force Between Bodies

Inserting a Linear Force or Torque Through a Joint

Customizing Force Elements with Sensor-Actuator Feedback

• Combining One- and Three-Dimensional Mechanical Elements

About Interface Elements

Working with Interface Elements

Example: Rotational Spring-Damper with Hard Stop

• Validating Mechanical Models

Checking Model Validity

Checking Model Topology

Counting Model Degrees of Freedom

• Running Mechanical Models

• Analyzing Motion

• Motion, Control, and Real-Time Simulation

• Introducing Visualization and Animation

• Getting Started with the Visualization Window

• Customizing Visualization and Animation

• Importing Mechanical Models

• Computer-Aided Design Translation

• Release Notes

Modeling Mechanical Systems

SimMechanics software gives you a complete set of block libraries for modeling machine parts and connecting them into a Simulink^® block diagram.

Consult Representing Motion to review body kinematics. If you need more information on rigid body mechanics, consult the physics and engineering literature, beginning with the Bibliography. Classic engineering mechanics texts include Goodman and Warner [2], [3] and Meriam [8]. The books of Goldstein [1] and José and Saletan [5] are more theoretically oriented.

User's Guide

Representing Machines with Models

Representing Machines with Models

Related Products & Applications

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