By extending semi-analytical Terramechanics methods for general three-dimensional tire and terrain geometries and combining it with a deformable compaction-based terrain model, general purpose tire/terrain mobility scenarios can be simulated. A vertical application was then created with this framework that combines a multibody vehicle in CHRONO::Rigid with the physics-based, 3-D deformable terrain database of CHRONO::Terrain. Using representative suspension hardpoints, spring/damper rates and accurate mass/inertia information, a representative HMMWV vehicle model was developed. Contact patch force models were developed by extending semi-analytical terramechanics approaches to the general, 3-D case. Leveraging High Performance Computing in the form of parallel CPUs and GPUs enables real-time vehicle mobilty to be realized, which enables operator-in-the-loop simulations.
Contributors: Justin Madsen, Andrew Seidl, Dan Negrut and Paul Ayers