6. Introductory tutorial: Compound joints: coincidence, cylindrical and slider.

Problem description: MBDyn does not have coincidence, cylindrical or slider joints. We have to construct these joints using combinations of in-line,
prismatic, spherical and revolute rotation joints. This tutorial details how to do so using the FreeCAD Dynamics workbench.

a) Coincidence joints.

In tutorial three we learned how to “weld” two rigid bodies together using a “coincidence joint”. As was already mentioned coincidence joints
do not actually exist in MBDyn. What the Dynamics workbench does when a coincidence joint is applied is to create a spherical and a prismatic
joint at the same time. Thus the name “compound joint” under which coincidence joints are classified. A spherical joint forces a node to move
on a sphere surrounding another joint. A prismatic joint forces the two nodes to always have the same orientation. Thus the combination of
both “rigidly locks” the two nodes together.

As was explained in tutorial three, applying a coincidence joint only makes sense when the two rigid bodies to be attached together are made
of different materials, otherwise one should instead perform a Boolean union between the two bodies and create only one rigid body and one
node, thus simplifying the problem. This is not the case, however, with cylindrical and slider joints, which are necessarily made of a combination
of other joints.

b) Cylindrical joints.

A cylindrical joint is composed of an in-line joint and a revolute rotation joint. An in-line joint forces a node to move along a line attached to
another node, with an alternative offset between each node and the line. A revolute rotation joint only allows the relative rotation of two
nodes about a given axis. The combination of both will be demonstrated in this section.

Open the CAD model found under Examples->Rigid-body-> 5. Cylindrical joint->CAD only. As you can see, this is a model of a cylindrical joint.
Create a “world” and switch to the top view. You will notice that the cylinder is slightly inclined relative to the global X axis, as shown next:
Create a rigid body and a structural dynamic node for both bodies, starting with the long cylinder, so it becomes body number 1. Apply a
clamp joint to the “structural: 1” node. Then add a gravity object and its corresponding constant drive. Make gravity pull towards –Y:
Now we create the cylindrical joint. Select “structural: 1”, hold control and select “structural: 2”. With control still held select two reference
geometries, whose centers (in the case of arcs), or whose centers of mass, in the case of any other geometry, define a line along the axis
of rotation of the cylindrical joint. Then click on cylindrical joint, as shown next:
You will find a “cylindrical: 1” container within “Cylindrical_joints”. This container has two joints within it, one is an in-line joint and another
is a revolute rotation joint. Each of these joints has a “z: joint: joint_number” line within it, in this case “z: joint: 2” and “z: joint: 3”, since
joint 1 is the clamp joint. Both lines run along the rotation axis of the cylindrical joint:
Write and execute the input file. Animate the model. You will see body 2 acting as a “sliding rigid pendulum”. It slides due to the slight
inclination of the cylinder relative to X.
c) Slider joints.

To create a slider joint open Examples->Rigid-body-> 6. Slider joint->CAD only, and follow exactly the same process as to create the cylindrical
joint, although this time, of course, create a slider joint instead of a cylindrical joint:

Note that, unlike in-line and revolute-rotation joints, prismatic joints do not have a “z: joint: number_of_joint” vector within them. This is
because prismatic joints do not have any orientation to be defined by an orientation vector.
 Simulate the model. You will see the slider sliding across body number one. This time there is only the sliding effect, and not the pendulum
motion.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this tutorial or about this software, please do not hesitate to contact me at josegegas@gmail.com