Chrono::Vehicle: Template-based ground vehicle modelling and simulation

Abstract

Chrono::Vehicle is a module of the open-source multi-physics simulation package Chrono, aimed at modelling, simulation, and visualisation of wheeled and tracked ground vehicle multi-body systems. Its software architecture and design was dictated by the desire to provide an expeditious and user-friendly mechanism for assembling complex vehicle models, while leveraging the underlying Chrono modelling and simulation capabilities, allowing seamless interfacing to other optional Chrono modules (e.g., its granular dynamics and fluid-solid interaction (FSI) capabilities), and providing a modular and expressive API to facilitate its use in third-party applications. Vehicle models are specified as a hierarchy of subsystems, each of which is an instantiation of a predefined subsystem template. Written in C++, Chrono::Vehicle is offered as a middleware library. In this paper, we provide an overview of the Chrono::Vehicle software design philosophy, its main capabilities and features, describe the types of ground vehicle mobility simulations it enables, and outline several directions of future development and planned extensions.