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Introduction

Vehicle chassis model developed using Simbody multi-body library. This is not a complete chassis model, it only focusses on the kinematics. The kinematic parameters are loaded from a JSON file.

Note: This is a work in progress to get familiar with Simbody.

System and Subsystems Overview

System overview and reference frames ([1] image source)

Open Tasks

• Implement chassis and body mass / inertia parameters and load these from JSON files
• Steering mechanism kinematics
• Wheel bodies
• Anti-rollbar torsional stiffness
• Wheel colliders and ground plane, so that the model can be dropped on the ground
• Non-linear spring/damper characteristics
  • Bump stops
  • Damper characteristic tables
• Tire force and ground contact model
• Simple driveline model
• Braking system
• Simple aerodynamics
• Data logging
• Refactor
• Setup Doxygen documentation
• Implement functions to query mass and inertia properties of each subsystem (usefull for final total mass/inertia accounting purposes)

Prerequisites

Install Simbody distribution as described on the Github page, i.e.

$ brew tap osrf/simulation
$ brew install simbody

Compile the main.cpp using your favorite compiler and link against the Simbody libraries.

$ clang++ -std=c++17 -Wno-deprecated -Ofast main.cpp -o main -I/opt/homebrew/Cellar/simbody/3.7/include/simbody -L/opt/homebrew/Cellar/simbody/3.7/lib -lSimTKsimbody -lSimTKmath -lSimTKcommon

References

Hard points and model parameters taken from this work:

[1] Mueller, Russell Lee (2005). Full vehicle dynamics model of a formula SAE racecar using ADAMS/Car. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/2600. PDF: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4269718.pdf

[2] https://2022.help.altair.com/2022/hwdesktop/hwx/topics/motionview/rear_macpherson_strut_r.htm