Case Study
Validating an Off-Highway Vehicle Design Before Cutting Metal
How DSIM used multi-body dynamics simulation to prove out a specialty off-highway vehicle for Stratom, Inc. under an aggressive timeline, so the team entered prototype build on time, under budget, and confident in the design.
The Challenge
Stratom, Inc. was developing a specialty off-highway vehicle and facing a familiar gap between design and manufacturing on a tight schedule. The open question was the expensive one: would the design actually function as intended once it met real terrain and real loads? The conventional path, building a physical prototype and testing it in the field, would have consumed the schedule and committed budget to a configuration nobody had yet confirmed would drive and perform. Stratom needed evidence before metal was cut, not after.
The team also wanted to go further than a single pass-or-fail check. They needed to set up specific driving scenarios, exercise the design across realistic off-highway conditions, and understand which design choices could withstand the forces involved. That is a multi-body dynamics problem, and it is precisely the kind of senior capability most teams cannot justify staffing full time. There was also a fair question on the table about whether simulation could be trusted to answer it. The engineer leading the effort had reservations about MBD going in, and wanted proof rather than promises.
The Approach
DSIM built a multi-body dynamics (MBD) model of the vehicle and put it through the driving scenarios that mattered, simulating how the system behaved over off-highway terrain and quantifying the loads and forces acting on the design. Rather than treat simulation as a single verdict, we used it to interrogate the design: where forces concentrated, which components saw the most demand, and which design choices held up under the conditions the vehicle would actually face. Every recommendation traced back to analysis results, not opinion.
We worked the aggressive timeline the schedule demanded and managed scope tightly against it, keeping communication clear throughout and managing expectations rather than overselling. The output was not raw data but evidence-backed answers: a clear picture of which design choices could withstand the required forces and driving situations, and where the design needed to change, delivered before any prototype existed. That gave Stratom's engineers a defensible basis for design decisions early, while changes were still inexpensive to make.
“Initially, I had my reservations about MBD. However, after working with Darren and his team, I can confidently say that working with DSIM was very easy. They under promised and over delivered big time on this project. Darren was very easy to work with and he and his team were able to manage our expectations and deliver the results that we needed.”
Mechanical Engineer, Stratom, Inc.
The Result
Stratom made design changes informed directly by DSIM's simulation results, then moved into the physical prototype build with the schedule intact. The validate-before-building approach turned a tight, uncertain program into a controlled one: the team entered manufacturing on time, under budget, and with underlying confidence in the design, having retired the biggest risks in simulation instead of discovering them in hardware. The engineer who started out with reservations about MBD left with a clear plan to use it again.
For a skeptical engineer doing the math, that is the whole case for MBD. A focused simulation engagement that surfaces design problems before they are cast in metal pays for itself many times over against the cost and schedule hit of a failed prototype. It is a representative example of what multi-body dynamics is for: not a report that sits on a shelf, but analysis that changes a design decision while it still costs little to change, and lets a team build the right thing the first time.
“Based on the results Darren and his team provided, we are in the process of building our physical prototype manufactured on time, under budget and with an underlying confidence on our design process. We won't hesitate to leverage MBD Simulation and tapping into the expertise Darren and his team have.”
Mechanical Engineer, Stratom, Inc.
Validate It Before You Build It
Have a design you need to validate before you commit to a prototype? Schedule a no-charge intro consultation with DSIM and we will talk through where multi-body simulation can de-risk your next build.
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