8.2.1 Dynamics Options

Once the kinematic constraints and the inertia properties of a body have been defined, the dynamic forces in a mechanism can be determined. The Solution option to SolveMech is used to tell Mech to calculate the generalized reaction forces in the model and to include the forces due to inertia.

An option for SolveMech.

The purpose of the Kinematic setting is to allow for velocity-dependent loading, such as damping, while still not including the dynamic loading. Note that using the Static setting does not necessarily produce an error in a model that has velocity-dependent loading, because Static sets the velocities to zero. This condition may result in an incidental error, however, if the velocity-dependent terms happen to blow up at zero velocity.
The Dynamic setting calculates the mechanism accelerations and then adds the inertial loads due to the acceleration of each body to the model's applied load vector before calculating the generalized reaction forces. Note that the Dynamic setting must be used to include the centrifugal forces, even though they depend on velocity and not acceleration.