Investigation of the Dynamic Interaction between the Human Body and Car Seat Using a Unique Simulation Technique

Abstract

Numerical simulations and mathematical models have been developed over last many years on the certain portions of human body, car seat or automobile to characterise, monitor and assess the level of vibration and its effects on the human occupant inside the automotive. Though, the numerical simulations can define the level and nature of vibration and its transmissibility up to a certain stage, vibration measurement techniques have also been gaining importance for last several years to fill the limitations of the theoretical models. Efforts have also been made to carry out vibration related investigations using combined numerical simulation and measurement procedure for the car seat and the seated human body inside car, though the numbers of case studies carried out with the combination of simulation and measurement procedure are very less. Some technologies have been achieved to judge the level of vibration inside the car seat and its human occupant, though those technologies cover only effects of vibration, dynamics or measurement techniques on specific portions of the car or the human body without considering all the real life factors, e.g., human gender, shape of the human portions, size specific stiffness properties, in-vehicle operating conditions and damping factors. Approaches to provide a comprehensive solution to estimate the level of vibration without real life testing have not been carried out by the existing technologies very well. More than that the existing technologies investigate only particular modules of the entire human-car dynamic systems, e.g., a specific human part, seat and human interaction, vibration transmission from seat to human body or the vibration measurement technique. So, there is enormous scope of further improvement and the aim of this research work is to provide a unique simulated system considering all the critical real life factors. Outcome of this simulation study will evaluate the vibration levels inside the segments of seated human body inside a car and car seat omitting the necessity of real-life practical testing and provide the solution by linking module-wise investigations of human body and car seat. Initiative has been taken to fill up the gaps in the existing technologies and offer a novel study on the comprehensive simulation model of the combined human body and car seat bio-dynamic system to optimize the health, safety and comfort levels of the car seated human body. Present research work covered the tasks of establishing the simulations for non-linear bio-dynamic model of the seated human body, feasibility and behaviour inspection of polyurethane foam cushions, contact mechanism assignment between the human body and the car seat and establishing the simulation of car seated human occupant under the real life environment. Vertical displacements, vertical accelerations and frequencies at designated points of human body and car seat have been extracted from the simulation outcome and the obtained results have been validated though real-life vibration testing data. This unique simulation methodology can successfully be implemented to predict the final vibration levels inside the car seat and the car seated human body to optimize the health, safety and comfort of the human-car seat system. The outlined novel technique contributed knowledge to the entire human body and car seat dynamic system rather than focusing only on a very specific portion of the system. An industrial guideline has been presented to implement this unique simulation methodology in similar sectors, which will lead various industries to avoid time consuming and expensive bio-dynamic vibration testing methods and help to understand the impact of vibration on the in-vehicle human body in a better way.