On the Importance of Displacement History in Soft-Body Contact Models

Two approaches are commonly used for handling frictional contact within the framework of the discrete element method (DEM). One relies on the complementarity method (CM) to enforce a nonpenetration condition and the Coulomb dry-friction model at the interface between two bodies in mutual contact. The second approach, called the penalty method (PM), invokes an elasticity argument to produce a frictional contact force that factors in the local deformation and relative motion of the bodies in contact. We give a brief presentation of a DEM-PM contact model that includes multi-time-step tangential contact displacement history. We show that its implementation in an open-source simulation capability called Chrono is capable of accurately reproducing results from physical tests typical of the field of geomechanics, i.e., direct shear tests on a monodisperse material. Keeping track of the tangential contact displacement history emerges as a key element of the model. We show that identical simulations using contact models that include either no tangential contact displacement history or only single-time-step tangential contact displacement history are unable to accurately model the direct shear test

Gauss' Principle and Principle of Least Constraints for Dissipative Mechanical Systems

International audienceThe aim of this work is to formulate the Gauss' principle and the principle of least constraints for dissipative systems. For dynamics, where the evolution requires the determination of the accelerations of the system, it is shown that in the presence of dissipative force laws a similar principle holds, which requires the augmentation of the optimization problem of least constraints by the time rate of change of the total dissipation

Rheological and restoring force models regarding belt tensioner dymamic behavior: prediction and experiment

The objective of this paper is to compare the Masing and modified Dahl model efficiency regarding the prediction of the hysteretic behavior of a belt tensioner used for automotive engines. A first experimental study with deflection imposed on the tensioner is carried out to identify hysteresis loop parameters for the two models. The models are then implemented in the general motion equations modeling the behavior of a belt - tensioner - mass system. The comparison beteen numerical and experimental results show that these two models perform satisfactorily and that the modified Dahl model is a little more efficient

Propagation Networks for Model-Based Control Under Partial Observation

There has been an increasing interest in learning dynamics simulators for model-based control. Compared with off-the-shelf physics engines, a learnable simulator can quickly adapt to unseen objects, scenes, and tasks. However, existing models like interaction networks only work for fully observable systems; they also only consider pairwise interactions within a single time step, both restricting their use in practical systems. We introduce Propagation Networks (PropNet), a differentiable, learnable dynamics model that handles partially observable scenarios and enables instantaneous propagation of signals beyond pairwise interactions. Experiments show that our propagation networks not only outperform current learnable physics engines in forward simulation, but also achieve superior performance on various control tasks. Compared with existing model-free deep reinforcement learning algorithms, model-based control with propagation networks is more accurate, efficient, and generalizable to new, partially observable scenes and tasks.Comment: Accepted to ICRA 2019. Project Page: http://propnet.csail.mit.edu Video: https://youtu.be/ZAxHXegkz4

Real-Time Planning with Primitives for Dynamic Walking over Uneven Terrain

We present an algorithm for receding-horizon motion planning using a finite family of motion primitives for underactuated dynamic walking over uneven terrain. The motion primitives are defined as virtual holonomic constraints, and the special structure of underactuated mechanical systems operating subject to virtual constraints is used to construct closed-form solutions and a special binary search tree that dramatically speed up motion planning. We propose a greedy depth-first search and discuss improvement using energy-based heuristics. The resulting algorithm can plan several footsteps ahead in a fraction of a second for both the compass-gait walker and a planar 7-Degree-of-freedom/five-link walker.Comment: Conference submissio

An analysis of the modified Dahl and Masing models: application to a belt tensioner

The objective of this paper is to describe the modified Dahl and Masing models used for predicting hysteretic behavior, and tested on a belt tensioner for automotive engines. An experimental study with deflection imposed on the tensioner is first carried out to identify hysteresis loop parameters for the two models. The models are implemented in the general motion equations which govern the behavior of a belt–tensioner–mass system. Particular attention is paid to the use of numerical schemes. The numerical and experimental investigations show the reliability of the modified Dahl model