Performance investigation and constraint stabilization approach for the orthogonal complement-based divide-and-conquer algorithm

The introductory paper on the orthogonal complement-based divide-and-conquer algorithm (ODCA) lacked in properly characterizing the growth rate of the constraint violation error and the singularity handling capabilities of the algorithm . In this paper, we investigate the performance of the ODCA with regards to constraint error growth and singularity handling capabilities. Moreover we introduce a new inverse dynamics-based constraint stabilization approach. The proposed method is applicable to general multibody systems with arbitrary number of closed kinematic loops. We compare the ODCA with augmented and reduction methods. Our results indicate that the error growth rate for the ODCA falls between these two traditional techniques. Moreover, using benchmark numerical problems, we illustrate the effectiveness of the stabilization scheme.