This book contains an edited versIOn of lectures presented at the NATO ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE on VIRTUAL NONLINEAR MUL TIBODY SYSTEMS which was held in Prague, Czech Republic, from 23 June to 3 July 2002. It was organized by the Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, in cooperation with the Institute B of Mechanics, University of Stuttgart, Germany. The ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE addressed the state of the art in multibody dynamics placing special emphasis on nonlinear systems, virtual reality, and control design as required in mechatronics and its corresponding applications. Eighty-six participants from twenty-two countries representing academia, industry, government and research institutions attended the meeting. The high qualification of the participants contributed greatly to the success of the ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE in that it promoted the exchange of experience between leading scientists and young scholars, and encouraged discussions to generate new ideas and to define directions of research and future developments. The full program of the ADVANCED STUDY INSTITUTE included also contributed presentations made by participants where different topics were explored, among them: Such topics include: nonholonomic systems; flexible multibody systems; contact, impact and collision; numerical methods of differential-algebraical equations; simulation approaches; virtual modelling; mechatronic design; control; biomechanics; space structures and vehicle dynamics. These presentations have been reviewed and a selection will be published in this volume, and in special issues of the journals Multibody System Dynamics and Mechanics of Structures and Machines.

Inhalt
Nonlinear Multibody Dynamics.- Non-Linear Dynamics of Multibody Systems With Generalized and Non-generalized Coordinates.- Geometrical Interpretation of Multibody Dynamics: Theory and Implementations.- Virtual Prototyping of Multibody Systems With Linear Graph Theory and Symbolic Computing.- Impact of Rigid and Flexible Multibody Systems: Deformation Description and Contact Models.- Model Reduction Techniques in Flexible Multibody Dynamics.- Unilateral Problems of Dynamics.- Frictional Contact of Spatial Multibody Systems With Kinematic Loops.- Virtual Multibody System.- Virtual Assembly in Multibody Dynamics.- Numerical Simulation of Flexible Multibody Systems by Using a Virtual Rigid Body Model.- A Virtual Multibody and Finite Element Analysis Environment in the Field of Aerospace Crashworthiness.- Virtual Proving Ground Simulation for Highway Safety Research and Vehicle Design.- Design of Redundant Parallel Robots by Multidisciplinary Virtual Modelling.- Knowledge Support for Virtual Modelling and Simulation.- David - A Multibody Virtual Dummy for Vibrational Comfort Analysis of Car Occupants.- Control Design and Mechatronic.- Design of Nonlinear Control of Nonlinear Multibody Systems.- Control and Optimization of Semi-passively Actuated Multibody Systems.- Optimization of Passive and Active Dynamic Systems.- Symofros: A Virtual Environment for Modeling, Simulation and Real-Time Implementation of Multibody System Dynamics and Control.- Simulation of an Active Control System in a Hot-Dip Galvanizing Line.- Challenging Applications.- Multibody System Dynamics in Ocean Engineering.- Snake-Like Locomotions of Multilink Systems.- Optimization of Rigid and Flexible Multibody Systems With Application to Vehicle Dynamics and Crashworthiness.- Multibody System Contact Dynamics Simulation.- Parallel Computing in the Context of Multibody System Dynamics.- Coupled Multibody-Aerodynamic Simulation of High-Speed Trains Manoeuvres.- The Development of a Real-Time Multibody Vehicle Dynamics and Control Model for a Low Cost Virtual Reality Vehicle Simulator: An Application to Adaptive Cruise Control.- Virtual Reconstruction of Impaired Human Hearing.