SimMechanics™

Ground - Represent immobile point at rest in World

Library

Bodies

Description

A Ground block represents an immobile ground point at rest in the absolute inertial World reference frame. Connecting it to a Joint prevents one side of that Joint from moving. You can also connect a Ground block to a Machine Environment block.

Caution   Every valid SimMechanics™ machine must have at least one Ground block. You must connect exactly one Ground block in each machine of your model to a Machine Environment block.

Ground is a type of Body, but you can connect only one side of a Ground to a Joint block. A Ground block automatically carries a grounded coordinate system (CS). This Grounded CS is inertial, at rest in the World reference frame, with coordinate axes parallel to the World axes:

+x points right

+y points up (gravity in -y direction)

+z points out of the screen, in three dimensions

But a Ground's origin is the ground point, which in general is shifted with respect to the World origin.

Multiple Ground blocks represent different fixed points in the global inertial World. In the topology of a machine model, multiple Ground blocks function as a single body.

You cannot connect a Sensor or Actuator to a Ground block, because the ground point cannot be moved.

Dialog Box and Parameters

Location [x,y,z]

Enter the position of the ground point translated from the origin of the World CS. The position is specified as a translation vector (x,y,z), with components projected onto the fixed World CS axes. Set the Ground position units using the pull-down menu to the right. The defaults are [0 0 0] and m (meters).

Show Machine Environment port

Select to enable the Machine Environment port on the Ground block. This port allows you to connect a Machine Environment block to the Ground and the machine that the Ground is a part of. The default is not selected.

A Ground Without and With a Connected Machine Environment Block

Configuring the Mechanical Environment

If you connect a Machine Environment block to a Ground, you can adjust the mechanical environment for the machine of which that Ground is a part. Consult the Machine Environment block reference.

See Also

Body, Machine Environment, Shared Environment

See Representing Machines with Models, Modeling Grounds and Bodies, and Modeling Degrees of Freedom for more on creating valid SimMechanics models and setting up Grounds.

See the relevant entries in the Glossary: ground, grounded CS, machine, and World.

Gimbal

In-Plane