Harry H. Cheng
Pablo Gonzalez
ABSTRACT
An integrated method for symbolical derivation of equations and numerical computations using dual numbers for analysis of spatial mechanisms is presented in this paper. The formulation is based upon 3x3 dual transformation matrices and derived symbolically using software package Mathematica. Based on the solution procedure presented in this paper, a software library of functions for displacement analysis of spatial mechanisms has been developed. Functions in this software library can be readily used in the CH language environment where dual number is treated as a first-class object. Displacement analysis of the RCRCR spatial mechanism is used as an example to illustrate the solution procedure and programming details.