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.