Title: Optimisation of whole body vibration analysis for suspended cabin tractor semitrailer

Authors: P. Velmurugan; L.A. Kumaraswamidhas; K. Sankaranarayanasamy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 620 015, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract: This work has been conducted to find out the health risk associated with suspended cabin tractor semi-trailer driving work. Suspended cabin tractor semi-trailer drivers are exposed to whole body vibration (WBV) during their work. Some drivers suffer from low back pain caused by vibration. The practical significance of applying suspended cabin type of tractor semi-trailer was tested at different road conditions, different speeds as well as different load conditions for comfortable driver seat interface (x, y, z axes) and the ride comfort parameters have been prioritised using Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array. Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to optimise the whole body vibration of suspended cabin tractor semi-trailer drivers. The practical significance of applying GA to whole body vibration of suspended cabin tractor semi-trailer has been validated by means of computing the deviation between predicted and experimentally obtained vibration different measurement conditions.

Keywords: whole body vibration; WBV; tractor semi-trailers; driver seat acceleration; Taguchi methods; genetic algorithms; GAs; vehicle vibration; health risks; suspended cabins; low back pain; ride comfort; orthogonal arrays; vibration analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVNV.2012.046466

International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration, 2012 Vol.8 No.2, pp.152 - 165

Published online: 29 Aug 2014 *

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