Using Hand Grip Force as a Correlate of Longitudinal Acceleration Comfort for Rapid Transit Trains.

Beiyuan Guo,Weining Fang,Weide Gan

doi:10.3390/s150715755

Abstract

Longitudinal acceleration comfort is one of the essential metrics used to evaluate the ride comfort of train. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using hand grip force as a correlate of longitudinal acceleration comfort of rapid transit trains. In the paper, a motion simulation system was set up and a two-stage experiment was designed to investigate the role of the grip force on the longitudinal comfort of rapid transit trains. The results of the experiment show that the incremental grip force was linearly correlated with the longitudinal acceleration value, while the incremental grip force had no correlation with the direction of the longitudinal acceleration vector. The results also show that the effects of incremental grip force and acceleration duration on the longitudinal comfort of rapid transit trains were significant. Based on multiple regression analysis, a step function model was established to predict the longitudinal comfort of rapid transit trains using the incremental grip force and the acceleration duration. The feasibility and practicably of the model was verified by a field test. Furthermore, a comparative analysis shows that the motion simulation system and the grip force based model were valid to support the laboratory studies on the longitudinal comfort of rapid transit trains.

Highlights

As green travel is becoming popular with the public, more and more people are choosing rapid transit systems to travel in metropolis
The present results show that the incremental grip force and acceleration duration both had effects on the comfort score
A simulation system was set up and a two-stage experiment was designed to investigate the role of the grip force on the longitudinal comfort of rapid transit trains

Summary

Introduction

As green travel is becoming popular with the public, more and more people are choosing rapid transit systems to travel in metropolis. People have high requirements for riding comfort in rapid transit systems. Riding comfort can be influenced by many factors, such as acceleration performance, interior space [1], noise and vibration [2], ventilation [3], temperature [4], seat design [5] and passenger services [6]. Longitudinal acceleration is one of the essential factors that effects the riding comfort of trains [7]. The standards stipulate the acceptable maximum acceleration value of the traction and braking system of the train [11], which can be used as the vehicle design basis. Further research was promoted to investigate the longitudinal acceleration comfort of passengers. Feng et al investigated the longitudinal acceleration comfort of passengers in different resting and reading postures [12]

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