Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Biomedical Engineering

Major Professor

Jack F. Wasserman

Abstract

Lower back pains are observed to be the most significant problem for most of the industrial workers who operate commercial trucks. Several factors such as road type, truck type, load, etc, have been found to affect the vibration exposure on the truck drivers. The main purpose of the current research is to collect the responses of Whole-body vibration to the truck driver and analyze the current levels of excitation from a variety of trucks. Present thesis work also examines the effects of different trucks, road types and loads to Whole-body vibration. Data collected in the United States on different types of trucks were processed with different processors and analysed as per the international standards: ISO 2361-1. First set of data were taken with HVM-100 on a scheduled on-road route from driver's seat cushion on different roads and load conditions.Second set of data were collected by DEWE data acquisition system from the trucks running on the same on-road route, with the application of additional transducers on driver's seat back, passenger's seat cushion as well as the cab floor. The frequency-weighted r.m.s accelerations were compared by different trucks on two different road types: interstate and rural highway for HVM data. The results from the same trucks with loaded trailer or without loaded trailer were also discussed in this thesis. The data recorded by DEWE system were analyzed with Matlab program to compare the frequency-weighted accelerations for different trucks. Additional analysis with VDV and jerk were also done. Road type was the primary factor affecting the driver's exposure. For both studies, the minimum 8-hr and the minimum 11-hr standard limits requiring a medical examination set by the standard for health were exceeded several times whereas the same for comfort was exceeded a lot of times.Overall, the driver was found to be safe as per ISO 2631-1 but the comfort levels were often exceeded. It is suggested that necessary action be taken to increase the comfort.

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