How can I simulate the surface profile with contact library in simscape multibody?

Dear all,

I am wondaring how can I simulate the contact force between a car and not flat surface, for instance I want to take the step file from solidworks with road profile. I want to check the suspension system and the wheels dynamic on a some kind of real (not ideal flat) road with small pits and bumps. Is it possible in simscape multibody to make such a simulation?

Thank you

Answer 1

[Steve Miller]

At the moment, this is challenging. You would need to implement your own algorithm to detect the collision between the two arbitrary shapes, determine the normal vector, and the relative speed at the contact point if you want to model friction as well. I know of users who have created this algorithm in MATLAB and connected it to Simscape Multibody.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert%E2%80%93Johnson%E2%80%93Keerthi_distance_algorithm

The best out-of-the-box solution we can offer through R2019a is the Simscape Multibody Contact Forces Library which only handles simple geometries (spheres, flat planes, cylinders, cones). If you can approximate your surface with those geometries, you may be able to do what you need.

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/47417-simscape-multibody-contact-forces-library

If you can share the shapes you are working with, perhaps we can make some other recommendations. It will also help us ensure that we address this use case in a future release.

Thanks,

--Steve