Case Study: KTH Royal Institute of Technology validates forwarder suspension designs with MSC Software Adams

Evaluating New Forestry Machines in a Fraction of the Time

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, working with MSC Software, needed a faster way to study new forestry machine designs. The research focused on forwarder suspension systems, where vibrations, terrain performance, operator comfort, and soil impact all affect productivity, and traditional build-and-test methods could cost millions of dollars and take too long.

Using MSC Software’s Adams, KTH modeled three suspension configurations and simulated them on a standard Skogforsk hard ground test track. The Adams results matched physical tests very well, and the pendulum-suspended forwarder performed substantially better than the other configurations. KTH said validated simulation would let it evaluate more designs in less time and optimize suspension and other components in a fraction of the time required by the build-and-test method.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology