WheeledVehicleTire

Defines the properties of a WheeledVehicle tire.

Inherit:

SimDataBlock

Description

Tires act as springs and generate lateral and longitudinal forces to move the vehicle. These distortion/spring forces are what convert wheel angular velocity into forces that act on the rigid body.

Fields

float WheeledVehicleTire::kineticFriction

Tire friction when the wheel is slipping (no traction).

float WheeledVehicleTire::lateralDamping

Damping force applied against lateral forces generated by the tire.

float WheeledVehicleTire::lateralForce

Tire force perpendicular to the direction of movement. Lateral force can in simple terms be considered left/right steering force. WheeledVehicles are acted upon by forces generated by their tires and the lateralForce measures the magnitude of the force exerted on the vehicle when the tires are deformed along the x-axis. With real wheeled vehicles, tires are constantly being deformed and it is the interplay of deformation forces which determines how a vehicle moves. In Torque’s simulation of vehicle physics, tire deformation obviously can’t be handled with absolute realism, but the interplay of a vehicle’s velocity, its engine’s torque and braking forces, and its wheels’ friction, lateral deformation, lateralDamping, lateralRelaxation, longitudinal deformation, longitudinalDamping, and longitudinalRelaxation forces, along with its wheels’ angular velocity are combined to create a robust real-time physical simulation. For this field, the larger the value supplied for the lateralForce, the larger the effect steering maneuvers can have. In Torque tire forces are applied at a vehicle’s wheel hubs.

float WheeledVehicleTire::lateralRelaxation

Relaxing force applied against lateral forces generated by the tire. The lateralRelaxation force measures how strongly the tire effectively un-deforms.

float WheeledVehicleTire::longitudinalDamping

Damping force applied against longitudinal forces generated by the tire.

float WheeledVehicleTire::longitudinalForce

Tire force in the direction of movement. Longitudinal force can in simple terms be considered forward/backward movement force. WheeledVehicles are acted upon by forces generated by their tires and the longitudinalForce measures the magnitude of the force exerted on the vehicle when the tires are deformed along the y-axis. For this field, the larger the value, the larger the effect acceleration/deceleration inputs have.

float WheeledVehicleTire::longitudinalRelaxation

Relaxing force applied against longitudinal forces generated by the tire. The longitudinalRelaxation force measures how strongly the tire effectively un-deforms.

float WheeledVehicleTire::mass

The mass of the wheel. Currently unused.

float WheeledVehicleTire::radius

The radius of the wheel. The radius is determined from the bounding box of the shape provided in the shapefile field, and does not need to be specified in script. The tire should be built with its hub axis along the object’s Y-axis.

float WheeledVehicleTire::restitution

Tire restitution. Currently unused.

filename WheeledVehicleTire::shapeFile

The path to the shape to use for the wheel.

float WheeledVehicleTire::staticFriction

Tire friction when the wheel is not slipping (has traction).