Research On Passenger Car Driver Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Modeling And Seating Comfort

The musculoskeletal system of human biomechanics is the fundamental for human tocomplete various activities, of which the study will be significantly helpful for theprevention and cure of bone and muscle diseases. The driver in the long-term driving will beled to muscle fatigue and bone damage (such as lumbar disc), and therefore to study thedriver’s body biomechanical model is of great importance.This research was bases on Jilin University preface interdisciplinary project. Thepurpose of this paper was to establish a parameterize driver-cab model used for ergonomicanalysis, through the analysis of the biomechanical parameters, the driver posture comfortwas conducted.This research was conducted on the platform of Anybody Modeling System (AMS),which is a human muscle skeletal modeling system. A musculoskeletal model of the humanbody and a cab were established in the AMS. The simplified boundary conditions of theparameterized driver-cab model were determined. Through the Adjustment of the cab layoutparameters, the changes of muscle activity and joint torque were studied. Finally, theselection mechanism of the driver’s lower limbs posture was analyzed using the dataobtained through simulation experiments, and a comfort model based on joint and muscleload was established as the same time. This study can be summarized as follows:A cab model and a human musculoskeletal model were established. This paper selecteddifferent height, weight or body length of the individual by scaling criteria for human muscleskeletal model; the boundary conditions between the cab and muscle skeletal model weresimplified. Meanwhile, the driver’s upper limbs, trunk, lower extremity posture predictionwas conducted; In order to facilitate application of the muscle parameters, muscle was divided to group by body part principle, from which studied the impact on human comfort.Cab layout parameters are studied which affect the driving performance. Posturecomfort evaluation parameters are selected, including the average muscle activity for eachmuscle group, each of the major joints joint torque and shear force between cushion anddriver. Finally, for the simulation results of the experiment were analyzed respectively, aswell as the impact of the backrest inclination angle, the seat cushion inclination angle, andthe height of the H point and the influence of the coefficient of friction were also fullystudied.Selection mechanism of the driver’s lower limbs posture was studied.5,50,95heightpercentile American male were selected as targets of the simulation experiments. Dependingon the muscle and joint load analysis, we obtained the conclusion: the driver would choosethe predictive average value of driving position, reducing muscle fatigue, so differentindividuals select the right driving position based on its own conditions, even if it rises alittle uncomfortable when compared to the mean near.The collected data of the simulation experiment was analyzed, which showed that thejoint torque of the various body parts, accumulated muscle activity and cushion thetangential force were highly related to each other. Five main ingredients were extracted. Thecomfort model was established using the extraction method of the main component. Finally,a linear regression model was established based on principal components; the relationshipbetween comfort model and posture variables was also studied.