Static Truss Analysis for Vehicles

[Capital-Asterisk]

For someone with more of a mechanical engineering background.

Rockets aren't suppose to be wobble (if someone want's to make a wobbly rocket, add a spring joint part!). Each separate moving part (referred to as Weld in code) can be perfectly rigid, but run a little truss simulation in the background for internal tension and stresses.

Inputs from the physics engine can be fed in per-frame: fictitious centripetal forces, rocket thrust, collisions.

Parts can have stress/tension/shear limits for connections (I don't have a mechanical background lol). Radial connections can have strength determined by contact area.

This sounds like it may make the game too complex, but the intention is to make vehicle structure behave intuitively or as it would in real life. A tiny part sticking out without much structural support should be allowed to be knocked off with a strong whack. Truss structures arranged in triangles are strong. A toddler can understand if a tower of building blocks is stable or not.

Implementation details:

• Write a generic C++ static truss simulator first, then that can be integrated into the physics stuff.
• Should this be part of the machine/link system (used for wiring logic, planned to be used for fuel too)? This is 100% possible since arbitrary data can be assigned to connections. This would make it possible to have a strain gauge sensor connected to some logic unit connected to a fuel valve supplying a rocket engine?