Evaluation of subjective discomfort of the seated human body exposed to vertical vibration using dynamic body pressure

Abstract

Pressure distribution has been regarded as a crucial parameter for static comfort evaluation of the seated human body. However, the association between the pressure distribution and subjective rating, exposed to vertical vibration, is still unclear. This study devotes to characterizing the vibration discomfort of the seated human body on a foam seat using dynamic body pressure distribution and investigating the associations between them. First, the dynamic body pressure of twelve subjects seated on a foam seat exposed to vertical random excitation was measured at frequencies from 0.5 to 20 Hz with six magnitudes (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 m/s2 r.m.s.). Meanwhile, the subjective discomfort rating of the foam seat was evaluated with the relative magnitude estimation method. Then, the influence of vibration magnitude on subjective discomfort ratings and dynamic body pressure indicators was investigated. The results show that with the increase of vibration magnitude, the mean average dynamic pressure, the mean peak dynamic pressure, the mean dynamic contact area, and the normal dynamic force had no significant change. On the contrary, the subjective discomfort ratings, normal dynamic force change rate root-mean-square, and the indicators related to pressure change rate root-mean-square increased significantly. Finally, the relation between the subjective discomfort ratings and dynamic body pressure indicators was analyzed using Stevens’ power law. The linear regression fitting accuracy of the average dynamic pressure change rate root-mean-square, peak dynamic pressure change rate root-mean-square, area pressure change rate root-mean-square, and normal dynamic force change rate root-mean-square with discomfort ratings were above 95%. The four dynamic body pressure indicators are highly correlated with the subjective discomfort ratings, which can be used as objective indicators for vibration discomfort evaluation.