Exudyn — The Complete Guide: Free Flexible Multibody Simulation in Python
Exudyn is an open-source (BSD-3-Clause) simulation library for the dynamics of rigid and flexible multibody systems, developed at the University of Innsbruck. The core is written in C++, and the work itself is done in Python.
Exudyn
Johannes Gerstmayr (University of Innsbruck)
Flexible multibody dynamics simulation — rigid and flexible bodies, reduced finite element models and robotics, in Python.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Rigid and flexible bodies — in one model, with joints and constraints.
- Finite elements and ANCF — for bodies undergoing large deformation.
- Model reduction — component mode synthesis (CMS) for fast flexible models.
- Robotics and optimisation — tools for robot arms and parameter tuning.
- Hundreds of examples — plus detailed documentation for a quick start.
Who it suits
Researchers and engineers simulating mechanisms, robot arms and flexible structures in motion — when flexibility affects the dynamics and rigid bodies are not a fair assumption. Set-up is done in code, so familiarity with Python is needed. Free for any use, including commercial work.
Related tools
For a long-standing multibody solver driven by input files — MBDyn. For a broad engine including vehicles and granular material — Project Chrono. For robot simulation with contact — MuJoCo.
MBDyn — Multibody Dynamics
Politecnico di Milano
Solver for the dynamics of multibody mechanical systems, including flexible bodies and aeronautical systems.
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Project Chrono
Project Chrono consortium
A physics simulation engine for multibody dynamics, vehicles, granular material and finite elements, in C++ and Python.
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MuJoCo
Google DeepMind
A fast physics engine for robotics, biomechanics and machine learning.
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Python
Python Software Foundation
The language behind most modern engineering computation, and its full ecosystem.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Exudyn is a good choice for flexible multibody dynamics in Python — open, well documented and rich in examples.