On Thursday 20 April 2006 11:06 pm, Jonathan Hepburn wrote: > I have an interested query. How well does FG model gliding? I wouldn't > expect (although I am more than prepared to be pleasantly surprised) > that thermals would be well, or at all, modelled, but how well does > the physics of air movement model ridge lift?
Thermals exist in FlightGear, but only the simple case is modeled. Start the Schweizer 2-33, which is called "sgs233" in FlightGear. The sgs233-set file will cause an AI scenario to begin, called "thermal-demo.xml". In this thermal demo a single thermal is placed over the control tower at KSFO. The glider starts over runway 28R at 3000 feet, so just a little left turn takes you to the thermal. You know you've found the thermal when the glider's netto variometer shows increasing numbers. The heart of this thermal will give you 8.0 knots of lift. The thermal capability in FlightGear is limited to cylindrical thermals, although you can set their diameter, height and strength. These thermals don't lean downwind, and they have infinite life spans. Note that you can set a negative strength, giving you a "sink" instead of a thermal. I've been experimenting with a thermal scenario that includes many thermals and sinks placed around the SFO bay area. Just yesterday I flew the sgs233 around the north end of the bay to Oakland, and could have gone all the way around if I had the time and patience. Ridge lift is a whole different animal algorithmically, and I think it will be MUCH harder to do. If you're interested in tackling that problem let me know. Dave ------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
