Advisor(s)

Ronald Mourant

Date of Award

2008

Date Accepted

12-2008

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department or Academic Unit

College of Engineering. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

Keywords

road design, vehicular movement

Subject Categories

Roads--Design and construction--Mathematical models, Motor vehicles--Dynamics--Mathematical models, Highway engineering

Disciplines

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

An important aspect of virtual environments is the design of roads, and vehicular movements. Their smoothness helps define the face-validity of the virtual environment. This research presents procedures used to create smooth roads and smooth vehicular paths. The building block of this face-validation is the algorithm used for creating curves. These algorithms take in the start, end, and radius of the circle formed by the arc, and number of segments (n). It divides the angle subtended by the arc into n. For each segment, the four corners are calculated and sent to a road building function. The more the number of segments the smoother the road is. Once the roads are smooth on the curves and hills, the next step is to make the vehicles traverse smoothly on the roads. The path of the vehicles is rendered using a different curve algorithm that takes in the start, end, and center of the circle formed by the arc. To find the center point of the circle formed by the arc (the path to be taken by the vehicle), we have to plot at-least three points of the arc in Autocad. After fillet operations on the arc, the properties of the perfectly fitting arc have the center point (x, y and z coordinates) of the arc. After the center point is found, the start, end and center points are passed to the curve algorithm. This algorithm in turn divides the arc into segments and calls the vehicle rendering method with the appropriate coordinates.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights Holder

Govindaraaj Mudumbai


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