MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR THE APPARENT MASS OF THE SEATED HUMAN BODY EXPOSED TO VERTICAL VIBRATION

✍ Scribed by L. Wei; M.J. Griffin

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 330 KB
• Volume: 212
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1006/jsvi.1997.1473

✦ Synopsis

Alternative mathematical models of the vertical apparent mass of the seated human body are developed. The optimum parameters of four models (two single-degree-of-freedom models and two two-degree-of-freedom models) are derived from the mean measured apparent masses of 60 subjects (24 men, 24 women, 12 children) previously reported. The best fits were obtained by fitting the phase data with single-degree-of-freedom and two-degree-of-freedom models having rigid support structures. For these two models, curve fitting was performed on each of the 60 subjects (so as to obtain optimum model parameters for each subject), for the averages of each of the three groups of subjects, and for the entire group of subjects. The values obtained are tabulated. Use of a two-degree-of-freedom model provided a better fit to the phase of the apparent mass at frequencies greater than about 8 Hz and an improved fit to the modulus of the apparent mass at frequencies around 5 Hz. It is concluded that the two-degree-of-freedom model provides an apparent mass similar to that of the human body, but this does not imply that the body moves in the same manner as the masses in this optimized two-degree-of-freedom model.