Virtual Reality-Based Dynamics Simulation for Virtual Prototypes

This work describes the conception and prototypic implementation of a program to simulate the dynamics within a rail-based undercarriage in real time. A software library for real time simulation of multibody systems (MBS) and a library to create Virtual Reality (VR) applications, function as a basis for this work. The main emphasis lies on the integration of the multibody-simulation into an interactive 3D environment to enable the user to interact with the model and its dynamics simulation in real time. The basic idea of this paper is to simulate a simplified dynamics model of a virtual prototype only as precise as necessary to obtain a better understanding of the prototype’s dynamics. The level-of-detail technique, frequently being used when CAD data is prepared for the use in VR, is utilized here on the simplified dynamics model of a virtual prototype.