Mechanical Systems of Rigid Bodies Subject to Unilateral Constraints

The properties of mechanical systems of rigid bodies subject to unilateral constraints are investigated. In particular, properties of interest for the digital simulation of the motion of such systems are studied. The constraints give rise to discontinuities in the solution. Under general assumptions on the system a unique solution is constructed using the linear complementarily theory of mathematical programming. A numerical method for solution of these problems and generalizations of the constraints studied in this paper are briefly discussed.