Prediction and evaluation of working conditions on high-speed craft using suspension seat modelling

Abstract

Severe working conditions on board high-speed craft adversely affect not only the safety, health and performance of the crew but also the performance of the vessel as a technical system. Human factors–based ship design combined with appropriate vibration mitigation techniques and work routines for the crew can improve the working conditions and reduce the risks for performance degradation and adverse health effects. To enable development and use of such means, methods for prediction and evaluation of working conditions are needed for both existing high-speed craft and craft under design. This article presents a 2-degree-of-freedom seat model compatible with both measured and simulated input data. The interaction between seat and human is treated using the concept of apparent mass. The model is validated against experiment data collected on board a 10-m, 50-knot high-speed craft equipped with high-standard suspension seats. Evaluation measures defined in ISO 2631-1 and ISO 2631-5 are used to compare experiment data to modelled data. The seat model slightly overestimates the experiment S_ed dose by a mean of 6.5% and underestimates the experiment vibration dose value (8 h) by 4.0%. It is concluded that model data correlate well with experiment data.

Keywords

Whole-body vibration high-speed craft working conditions seat model apparent mass simulation ergonomics/human factors ISO 2631-1:1997 ISO 2631-5:2004 vibration dose

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