Use of Anthropometric Measures and Digital Human Modelling Tools for Product and Workplace Design

Abstract

This chapter addresses and demonstrates the application of digital human modelling (DHM) tools to consider anthropometric diversity in product and workplace design. A number of additional methods for evaluating ergonomics conditions are also illustrated. Three cases show how DHM tools can be applied in different design settings and for different design undertakings, focusing on user variation in anthropometry. A number of methods for user representation in the DHM tool are briefly presented. Method selection depends on the design problem at hand, and the chapter exemplifies the use of different methods for different design tasks. Examples are the use of one-dimensional percentile based statistics data, the use of predefined collections of manikins, and the creation of representative cases by using multidimensional statistics. The chapter takes a designer’s view of the uses of DHM tools for anthropometry-related issues and illustrates how the tools can be of value in the design process.