Calculating Forces during Static Load in Unity

Unity Engine
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Hello Unity Community,

I’m currently working on a project involving a static load hanging from a branch of a tree in Unity. My goal is to determine the forces and the moments at the joint where the branch meets the trunk of the tree. Since Unity provides robust physics simulations, I believe there must be a way to measure these parameters within the 3D structure of the scene. Using these estimates, I would like to set a threshold value for the force or the moment that, if exceeded, would indicate that the branch is about to break.

Could anyone please provide guidance or point me to resources on how to calculate force and moment measurements within Unity, especially in the context of a 3D structure? Calculations based on acceleration would not work as the structure is subjected to static load.

Any insights, tips, or sample code snippets would be greatly appreciated. Additionally, if anyone has experience implementing similar mechanics or simulations in Unity, I would love to hear about your approach and any lessons learned.

Thank you!

2

To get what you want I imagine you would make a mesh of Rigidbodies connected by FixedJoints.

That way you can query each joint to find the total force and torque applied to hold its place.

BTW, this isn’t what a realtime game-oriented physics engine is optimized for. It will probably work out to a certain complexity and then quickly become degenerate beyond that complexity.

But give it a shot!