Chrono::Ray: A Distributed Framework for High-Throughput Simulation-Based Analysis of Multibody Systems
Provides a user-friendly distributed simulation framework for computational engineers, but is an incremental integration of existing tools.
Chrono::Ray integrates the Chrono multibody dynamics engine with the Ray distributed computing platform to enable high-throughput simulation-based analysis without requiring users to manage distributed infrastructure. Demonstrated on parameter recovery for a lunar lander model and design of experiments for terramechanics.
Large-scale simulation studies can provide invaluable insights across computational engineering efforts, but they are often computationally demanding, requiring the use of distributed computing, which is itself not a simple task. Chrono::Ray addresses this challenge by integrating the high-fidelity multibody dynamics simulation engine Chrono with the open-source distributed computing platform Ray. The result is a modular workflow framework providing user-friendly abstractions for large-scale engineering simulation studies, supporting scalable orchestration of large ensembles of simulation trials without requiring users to directly manage distributed infrastructure. The current capabilities of the framework are demonstrated through two representative examples: parameter recovery for a multibody lunar lander model, and design of experiments for parameters of a continuum terramechanics model. Chrono::Ray is a part of the larger Project Chrono ecosystem and is released as an open-source software package, with source code available at https://github.com/uwsbel/chrono-ray.git.