• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2009

A simplified model of seat-human body is presented to analyze vibrations of human body on a seat of vehicle. The theoretical model having seven degrees-of-freedom is composed of the inter-connected masses, springs and dampers. Until now, evaluation of ride comfort has been usually performed only through vehicle tests. This study aims to complement shortcomings of conventional vehicle tests in evaluation of ride comfort by using the theoretical model. The acceleration values of the human body are obtained from frequency response functions of the theoretical model. Thereafter, Ride and SEAT indexes are acquired by considering response characteristics of the human body for the 12 axes that are presented in BS 6841. A vehicle test is carried out to measure the acceleration values for the three parts of the human body such as upper body, hip and foot. Ride and SEAT indexes of the vehicle test are also obtained by considering the response characteristics of the human body, of which results are compared with the values from the theoretical model. It is found that the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results.