Simscape Multibody

Model and simulate multibody mechanical systems

Simscape Multibody (formerly SimMechanics) provides a multibody simulation environment for 3D mechanical systems, such as robots, vehicle suspensions, construction equipment, and aircraft landing gear. You can model multibody systems using blocks representing bodies, joints, constraints, force elements, and sensors. Simscape Multibody formulates and solves the equations of motion for the complete mechanical system. You can import complete CAD assemblies, including all masses, inertias, joints, constraints, and 3D geometry, into your model. An automatically generated 3D animation lets you visualize the system dynamics.

Simscape Multibody helps you develop control systems and test system-level performance. You can parameterize your models using MATLAB variables and expressions, and design control systems for your multibody system in Simulink. You can integrate hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic, and other physical systems into your model using components from the Simscape family of products. To deploy your models to other simulation environments, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems, Simscape Multibody supports C-code generation.

Key Features

• Single environment for simulating 3D mechanical systems together with multidomain physical systems and control algorithms in Simulink
• Part definition tools, including standard geometry, extrusions defined in MATLAB, and STEP files
• Mechanical joints and constraints covering standard and custom kinematic relationships
• Simulation modes for analyzing motion and calculating forces
• 3D animation of multibody system dynamics
• Simscape Multibody Link utility, for interfacing to PTC Creo (Pro/ENGINEER), SOLIDWORKS, and Autodesk Inventor; XML Schema, for interfacing with other CAD platforms
• Support for C-code generation (with Simulink Coder)