Accurate measurements of human response to whole-body vibration are essential to any conclusions about the health risks, discomfort, and assessment of suspension systems in vibration environments. While accelerometers are traditionally considered the main measurement tools in whole-body vibration studies, their measurements become questionable when they are attached to inclined surfaces or when the motion has coupled components in multiple directions. Current measurement correction methodologies are subjective and limited to simple cases. A comprehensive correction methodology using inertial sensors was used in this work to quantify human response under single fore-aft, single-vertical, and multiple-axis whole-body vibration of twelve seated subjects with supported-backrest and unsupported-backrest upright posture. Vibration files of white noise random signals with frequency content of 0.5-12 Hz and vibration magnitude of 1.8 m/s2 RMS were used in the testing. The results have shown considerable differences in the transmissibility measurements without proper correction. The work presented has the potential to standardize experimentation in whole-body vibration and make measurements more accurate and defined across labs.
Comprehensive measurement in whole-body vibration
Jonathan DeShawRelated information
1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
, Salam RahmatallaRelated information
Published Online: May 14, 2013
Abstract
Keywords: accelerometry, measurement, transmissibility, inertial sensors, posture