%0 Journal Article %A Al-Widyan, Khalid %A Angeles, Jorge %A Ostrovskaya, Svetlana %D 2003 %I Begell House %N 2&3 %P 22 %R 10.1615/IntJMultCompEng.v1.i23.110 %T A Robust Simulation Algorithm for Conservative Linear Mechanical Systems %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/61fd1b191cf7e96f,7f7cdb8d6d2aa4b1,46321ba27fb264af.html %V 1 %X Proposed in this article is an inherently conservative simulation scheme, based on the zero-order hold and a closed-form time response of the system at hand. It is shown that the simulation algorithm can be cast in a form in which the state-transition matrix, mapping a state at instant tk into a state at instant tk+1, is proper orthogonal. Hence, for an n-degree-of-freedom (dof) system, this matrix represents a rotation in the 2n-dimensional space of state variables. As a result, the numerical damping required in the simulation of undamped systems is obviated. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated with two examples drawn from engineering systems. %8 2003-06-01