A Review of Whole-Body Vibration of Seated Occupants in Moving Vehicles

Abstract

Farming and other occupations which require the operation of heavy machinery like tractors expose the operator to whole-body vibrations. This could cause various ailments and discomforts in the human body and could even lead to premature mortality. This paper presents a survey into the exposure of seated occupants to the whole-body vibrations and their effects. Various standard terms used for quantifying the whole body vibration exposure and their limiting values are discussed in this paper. The different variables which could influence the distribution of vibrations on the body of the occupants and their effects on the biodynamic response of the body are discussed in detail. A review of various modelling approaches to predict the biodynamic responses of the body and their key variables is also carried out.