Experimental and Numerical Methods for Optimizing the Dynamic Comfort of Seat Structures

摘要

One objective within seat development is the reduction of vibrations, based on the related discomfort caused by low back pain. Currently the OEM apply experimental methods with test persons for evaluating the dynamic seating comfort by subjective ratings. For optimizing the seat structures these methods have the disadvantage that the results depend on the test persons and thus are almost not reproducible. Accordingly studies of design parameters as e.g. the foam materials are complex as their influence is within the test tolerances. Consequently new methods are developed. On the one side the experimental testing by hardware prototypes is enhanced with the application of vibration dummies eliminating subjective influences. On the other side the development process is partly moved to digital testing by using CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) tools. Thereby the optimization of the seats can be carried out with less effort and also additionally includes the information of non-measurable quantities as e.g. the foam stresses. Furthermore innovative concepts for new materials or designs can be investigated with less time and money. This paper presents information about the numerical tool CASIMIR/Automotive and the hardware dummy MEMOSIK. Finally the application of CASIMIR/Automotive is shown for the optimization of the dynamic seating comfort by a study of different design parameters.