Calculating vertical load with multiple bodies

[ZachGriffin]

I'm currently writing a vehicle simulator and have constructed a chassis out of physical node bodies that are connected as in the screenshot below. I am trying to work out the normal force at each of the green circles such that if it were suspended by each of the four nodes, the summation of the normal force at each of the green circled nodes would equal the weight of the chassis. I can work out the net force acting on the nodes individually by taking the derivative of momentum over time but that doesn't take into account the mass of the rest of the chassis. I think this may involve weight transfer or COG variables? I need to scale the individual net force by something although I'm not sure what. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Almsco]

It sounds like you may have to account for weight transfer when calculating the normal force at each of the green circles. By understanding the center of gravity (COG) of the chassis and its motion, you can use that information to better estimate how much weight is distributed to each of the four nodes. Have you looked into using a physics engine such as Bullet Physics to help with the calculations? That might make it easier to get the results you're looking for. Good luck!