Conservation of angular momentum and energy in the integration of non-linear dynamic equations Original Research Article

The analysis and implementation of a step-by-step algorithm conceived to preserve scalar invariants of motion (i.e. angular momentum and energy) of a rigid body in the integration of non-linear dynamic equations is presented here. The considered rigid body is subjected to generic translational and rotational motions with large displacements and finite rotations. The algorithm is implemented in a new efficient C++ f.e.m. code which allows an easy performance of several numerical applications.