Experimental and Numerical Study on Ergonomic Evaluation of Automotive Seating Comfort

Abstract

Automotive car seats play a vital role in providing optimum comfort to the occupants when it comes to vehicle comfort. The objective of this study was to perform an experimental and numerical investigation of the ergonomic evaluation of automotive seating comfort. A questionnaire survey was carried out on car drivers driving two different cars namely Tata Indica and Maruti Swift, to understand the perception of drivers on seating comfort. Posture monitoring techniques using Kinect camera and pressure mapping systems were used to analyze the sitting posture and sitting angle. A multibody dynamics analysis technique was used to evaluate the human body exposed to vehicle vibration. The vertical vibration transmissibility was measured from different body segments using this model. Also, with the help of a multibody dynamics simulation model, the results were compared and validated with existing literature. This study suggests suitable sitting posture and sitting angle derived with the help of multibody dynamics simulation along with the experimental investigation, which would reduce the fatigue of the driver when exposed to prolonged driving.