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How do wheels break at speed?


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I just got the ruggedized wheels up to about 55 m/s on the runway, so it's not that simple.

Yes, and their breakdown speed is 60 m/s.

In general, rover wheels break either when (A) you exceed the maximum horizontal speed that they can withstand (labeled 'Breakdown Speed' on the aforementioned Wiki page) or (B) you drop them with a vertical speed that is too great (labeled 'Impact Tolerance,' it's at about 100 m/s for the Ruggedized wheel, off the top of my head.)

I would be more worried about the landing than I would be about getting the thing to speed. You can continue to burn after you leave the ramp... but parachutes don't work on Dres.

Hope this helps (too)!

-Upsilon

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Yes, and their breakdown speed is 60 m/s.

In general, rover wheels break either when (A) you exceed the maximum horizontal speed that they can withstand (labeled 'Breakdown Speed' on the aforementioned Wiki page) or (B) you drop them with a vertical speed that is too great (labeled 'Impact Tolerance,' it's at about 100 m/s for the Ruggedized wheel, off the top of my head.)

I would be more worried about the landing than I would be about getting the thing to speed. You can continue to burn after you leave the ramp... but parachutes don't work on Dres.

Hope this helps (too)!

-Upsilon

I was reading the wrong column, apologies Zeenobit! And thanks Upsilon. Yeah, parachutes are going to be my issue in getting him safely down. Would the breakdown speed be easy to mod? I don't need much more, in my tests I figure I can make it to the other side with about 70/80 m/s horizontal speed. Still looking for a good spot to actually land though.

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In general, rover wheels break either when (A) [...] or (B) you drop them with a vertical speed that is too great (labeled 'Impact Tolerance,' it's at about 100 m/s for the Ruggedized wheel, off the top of my head.)

There must be more to that. My heavy Lab Rover would reliably sustain damaged wheels if I took it over a bump even at relatively low speeds -- the banks on either side of the runway would do. The landing gear was added to solve that problem, previous versions couldn't go faster than 8-10m/s on the Mun without risking a flat tire. Also, Signo reported broken wheels after parachuting down to Eve. I've had that, too.

I suspect that the game has some idea of momentum, but can't say anything of substance on how it might work.

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I was reading the wrong column, apologies Zeenobit! And thanks Upsilon. Yeah, parachutes are going to be my issue in getting him safely down. Would the breakdown speed be easy to mod? I don't need much more, in my tests I figure I can make it to the other side with about 70/80 m/s horizontal speed. Still looking for a good spot to actually land though.

Change to suit.

\Steam\SteamApps\common\Kerbal Space Program\GameData\Squad\Parts\Wheel\roverWheelTR-2L\roverWheelTR-2L.cfg

MODULE{
name = ModuleWheel
hasMotor = true
resourceName = ElectricCharge
resourceConsumptionRate = 0.7
canSteer = true
controlAxisType = Forward
steeringModeType = AutomaticSteer
brakeTorque = 500
brakeSpeed = 2.5
impactTolerance = 300
[B]overSpeedDamage = 60[/B]

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They seem to break due to force, like a heavy load+ uneven terrain - this seems to be independent of the breaking due to speed (OverSpeedDamage in the .cfg file.)

As to the breaking speed, it seems to be based upon ground relative velocity when in contact with *something*

If you watch this:

at 0:55

It seems that you need to get to geosynchronous orbit to drive on other objects, otherwise the wheels pop.

Thus allowing that pretty cool video

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I've had the RoveMax tyres burst at between 10-20 m/s when trying to land on the Mun...

The wiki does say "The impact threshold for this to happen is a lot lower than the actual impact tolerance listed in the parts menu" - but no more details than that

Good to know they can be repaired - but not helpful for unmanned rovers...

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I just recently read something somewhere (sorry, can't remember where to cite link), that damaged wheels (flat tire?) can be repaired by moving a Kerbalite next to it and Right-clicking on it. Haven't tried it yet, so forgive me if the information is incorrect.

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Real-life wheels don't break at ~180 mph. So why do KSP wheels break at 60 m/s?

Depends on the speed you're going at and the speed the wheels are rated for. One of the reasons it's hard to build high speed trains is because the wheels can shatter easily at high speed as they're already under a high load due to rotational forces. Those forces are a squared function of speed so they go up rapidly at high speed.

Given that most Kerbal components seemed to have been picked up at junk yards I assume their speed ratings aren't that good.

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I just recently read something somewhere (sorry, can't remember where to cite link), that damaged wheels (flat tire?) can be repaired by moving a Kerbalite next to it and Right-clicking on it. Haven't tried it yet, so forgive me if the information is incorrect.

Quite correct, though you might need to spam the repair button to actually get the tyre to inflate, and in low-grav/with lightweight vehicles there's a chance the inflation force will flip the vehicle.

Real-life wheels don't break at ~180 mph. So why do KSP wheels break at 60 m/s?

Erm, actually most tyres aren't rated for anything like those speeds. 60m/s is over 130mph. If you drive on budget cross-ply remould tyres (and let's face it, that's all the KSC can afford) at those speeds you'll find they'll come apart a lot sooner than you'd like.

Also, the tyres on the RL moon buggy were made of woven steel strands and not 'inflated' at all. I'd count it as a gift from Squad that we have burstable-tyres that add a bit of risk to something that NASA engineered out of the realms of chance.

Edited by The_Rocketeer
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I just recently read something somewhere (sorry, can't remember where to cite link), that damaged wheels (flat tire?) can be repaired by moving a Kerbalite next to it and Right-clicking on it. Haven't tried it yet, so forgive me if the information is incorrect.

Just in case any of you are interested, I found the link I was referring to - some tips...

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/21dco6/things_you_may_not_have_known_about_playing_ksp/

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