Abstract
In this investigation, a numerical procedure for modeling nonlinear joint constraints for the B-spline plate element is developed for the large deformation analysis of multibody systems. A concept of intermediate reference coordinates proposed for the absolute nodal coordinate formulation is generalized for B-spline elements such that a wide variety of nonlinear joint constraints can be modeled using existing joint constraint libraries implemented in existing multibody dynamics codes. Several numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the use of numerical procedure developed in this investigation.
