Physics series map

The March-May 2026 physics posts form a stack:

1. Mechanisms need coordinates and constraints.
2. Engine and vehicle dynamics turn those constraints into forces, moments, and vibration sources.
3. Fluids and heat add energy transfer through pressure, flow, and temperature.
4. FEM checks whether real parts survive the loads.
5. Sensors and AI can improve the workflow, but only if physics keeps the loop grounded.

Core notes:

• MBSD simulations start with coordinate choice
• Reference coordinates trade more equations for a systematic solver
• Constraints are a modeling language for mechanisms
• Lagrange multipliers turn joint forces into outputs
• Mechanism synthesis needs motion quality, not only reachability
• 3D MBSD complexity comes from orientation and reaction loads
• Engine balance is inertial source characterization
• Engine mounts are filters between source and chassis
• A kart is not a point mass
• Fluids complete mechanical models with pressure and flow
• Heat transfer models live or die by boundary conditions
• Sensors turn boundary conditions into measured inputs
• FEM begins where the rigid body assumption breaks
• Physics guardrails make AI design useful
• Electromagnetic actuators store energy that fights switching

Source series:

• Bringing Mechanisms to Life
• Programatic Mechanisms
• 2D Kinematics and Dynamics
• 2D Mechanism Synthesis
• The physics of Mechanisms in the SPACE
• Launching a MBSD framework
• Fluidssss
• Heat Transfer (+ Go Solar PoC)
• Thermodynamics
• FEM and a Self-Optimizing design loop