Object-oriented programming techniques in vehicle dynamics simulation

Described in this paper is a novel approach for the object-oriented computer modelling of vehicle dynamics. The key feature of the method is to represent the mechanical system as a collection of concatenated transmission elements carrying out component-related tasks autonomously and in a coordinate-free manner. This is accomplished by applying differential geometric concepts to the generation of the dynamical equations. The result is a computer library which can be used as a building-block system for generating vehicle dynamics simulation programs.