The Periodic Impact Responses of Human-Body in a Vehicle Traveling on the Rough Terrain

The human-body in a vehicle traveling on the rough terrain is modeled through the lumped mass approach and its periodic impact motions and stability are investigated through a linear model of vehicle and passenger systems. The linear model assumes the motion response of vehicle is very small compared to passenger’s rotational motion since the vehicle chassis has a very large mass and moment of inertia. The period-1 impact motion for two impacts respectively on two walls for a specific number of periods is predicted analytically and numerically. The stability and bifurcation of such a period-1 impact motion are developed analytically. The phase planes of the periodic impact motions are illustrated for a better understanding of the human-body impacting motion in the vehicle.Copyright © 2002 by ASME