Multi-Body Dynamics for Commercial Vehicle Chassis
18% Roll Stability & 34% R&D Cost Reduction
[ BUSINESS CONTEXT ]
A commercial vehicle manufacturer faced safety concerns regarding roll-over stability. Their $2.1M-per-prototype budget severely restricted physical testing capabilities, stifling innovation.
[ PROJECT CHALLENGE ]
Intuition-based modifications degraded ride quality when trying to improve roll stability on their 12-ton chassis loaded above 80% capacity. They needed a virtual testbed to optimize competing dynamics metrics simultaneously.
[ STRATEGIC SOLUTION ]
We developed a high-fidelity Multi-Body Dynamics capability using MSC Adams Car, executing mass simulations to identify optimal suspension geometries across all load configurations.
Engineering Methodology
MBD Model Calibration
Correlated the virtual chassis against track data to achieve >92% predictive accuracy.
Pareto Front Optimization
Conducted 147 DOE iterations to improve roll-stiffness without stiffening the ride.
Roll Moment Redistribution
Redesigned the rear anti-roll bar to redistribute forces during cornering.
Market-Specific Tuning
Generated 6 distinct suspension specs for global markets using one virtual architecture.
Quantified Engineering Impact
Increased Static Stability Factor allowed for higher cornering speeds.
Skipped 6 out of 8 planned physical prototype builds.
Optimized damper valving reduced vertical accelerations in the cabin.
Simulation infrastructure paid for itself by eliminating a single crash test.