EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF LUMPED-PARAMETER HUMAN BODY MODELS EXPOSED TO WHOLE BODY VIBRATION

Abstract

Whole body vibration (WBV) is uncontrolled vibrations in occupational settings such as vehicle driving or hand tool operating. Chronic occupational WBV exposure may cause many health problems such as fatigue, lower back pain, spinal degenerations, vision problems and so on. In order to simulate and observe the adverse effects of WBV on the human body, many lumped-parameter human body models were proposed. The objective of this study is to provide quantified assessments of human body biodynamic models which were designed to characterize the response of real human body exposed to WBV. To do so, direct measurements of vibration accelerations obtained from different segments of human body and vehicle seat were carried out during riding on roads with different unevenness levels. Recorded experimental acceleration data were compared with those obtained from simulations of different human body models. Root mean square difference and correlation coefficient values were calculated between theoretical and experimental accelerations for a quantitative assessment of the existing models. According to the comparison results, biodynamic model proposed by Boileau and Rakheja [Boileau P-É, Rakheja S, Whole-body vertical biodynamic response characteristics of the seated vehicle driver: Measurement and model development, Int J Ind Ergonom22:449–472, 1998] showed the best correlation with the experimental acceleration data.