Title: A review of the general effects of whole-body vibration

Authors: R. Ranganathan, Mudumba Vamsi Mohan

Addresses: Research Engineer, NADS and Center for Simulation, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA. ' Former graduate student of University of Missouri - Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

Abstract: This paper reviews the various areas of concentration in which research on whole body vibration has so far been covered. The different effects of the whole-body vibration that has been reviewed in this paper include: comfort, interference with activities, health effects, and motion sickness including the effects of low-magnitude vibration. These effects are in turn dependent on various factors like the frequency, exposure time, vibration intensity and direction besides other physiological conditions. In this paper, the research concerning the effects of these factors on human subjects and the developments and changes to the IS0 standards are presented. It can be concluded from the review that the extensive research done so far and the pertinent changes to the standards are satisfactory, although the research work is neither complete nor exhaustive in some areas.

Keywords: driver comfort; driver-vehicle interaction; passenger comfort; vehicle safety; whole body vibration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.1997.054597

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 1997 Vol.4 No.2/3/4, pp.353 - 372

Published online: 18 Jun 2013 *

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