Multibody systems are used extensively in the investigation of mechanical systems including structural and non-structural applications. It can be argued that among all the areas in solid mechanics the methodologies and applications associated to multibody dynamics are those that provide an ideal framework to aggregate d- ferent disciplines. This idea is clearly reflected, e. g. , in the multidisciplinary applications in biomechanics that use multibody dynamics to describe the motion of the biological entities, in finite elements where multibody dynamics provides - werful tools to describe large motion and kinematic restrictions between system components, in system control where the methodologies used in multibody dynamics are the prime form of describing the systems under analysis, or even in many - plications that involve fluid-structure interaction or aero elasticity. The development of industrial products or the development of analysis tools, using multibody dynamics methodologies, requires that the final result of the devel- ments are the best possible within some limitations, i. e. , they must be optimal. Furthermore, the performance of the developed systems must either be relatively insensitive to some of their design parameters or be sensitive in a controlled manner to other variables. Therefore, the sensitivity analysis of such systems is fundamental to support the decision making process. This book presents a broad range of tools for designing mechanical systems ranging from the kinematic and dynamic analysis of rigid and flexible multibody systems to their advanced optimization.

"This book presents a broad range of tools for designing mechanical systems, including kinematic and dynamic analysis of rigid and flexible multibody systems and their advanced optimization. The methodologies are presented from their fundamentals to the point where it is possible to build and analyze complex models of machines, vehicles or biomechanics. Design sensitivity and optimization methods are presented and applied to problems of design, reliability or parameter identification in cases of practical importance. The book is organized in a tutorial manner providing a comprehensive summary of current work in mechanical systems using advanced optimization methods, being suitable to students, researchers or industry engineers. Through applications to the design of machine components, transportation vehicles for ride, maneuverability and crashworthiness, or biomechanics, the reader can appraise the multidisciplinary aspects of the methodologies presented."

Planar Multibody Systems.- Spatial Multibody Systems.- Synthesis of Mechanisms.- Differential-Geometric Aspects of Constrained System Dynamics.- Dependent Variable Formulations.- Independent Variable Formulations.- Other Useful Modeling and Simulation Techniques.- Sensitivity Analysis: Linear Static Spring Systems.- Sensitivity Analysis: Nonlinear Static Spring Systems.- Sensitivity Analysis: Generalized Coordinate Kinematic Systems.- Optimization of Mechanical Systems.- Using Augmented Lagrangian Particle Swarm Optimization for Constrained Problems in Engineering.- Optimization of Mechatronic Systems using the Software Package NEWOPT/AIMS.- Topology Optimized Synthesis of Planar Kinematic Rigid Body Mechanisms.- Grid-Based Topology Optimization of Rigid Body Mechanisms.- Lumped Deformations: a Plastic Hinge Approach.- Distributed Deformation: a Finite Element Method.- Optimization of Flexible Multibody Systems.