Simulations of the vibration response of mannequins in car seats by changing parameter and excitation

This study is based on previously developed tools for car seat designers. A simplified modeling approach to predict the vibration response, about an operating point, of mannequin occupied car seats is demonstrated to be feasible. A two-dimensional model, consisting of rigid bodies interconnected by pin joints with torsional dampers, springs and dampers had been developed. The springs and dampers are linear and the nonlinearity in the model is due to geometric effects, although at vibration levels experienced under normal driving conditions a linearized version of the model predicts responses. The effects of changing model parameters on the natural frequencies, the mode shapes and resonance locations in frequency response functions were shown in previous papers. Reasonable qualitative as well as good quantitative agreement between experimental and simulation frequency response estimates is obtained. Especially, k2 parameter, x-directional excitation and matching between the experiment and simulation are considered. The application of these simplified models is in car seat design, where they would facilitate evaluation of the effects of seat design changes prior to prototyping.