Dynamic modeling and simulation of the suspended-load backpack to obtain optimal suspension parameters and reducing effect of ground reaction force

Abstract

In military and rescue team, backpack is one of the most important things which is used to carry supplies, communication devices, and other equipments. Based on the ergonomic standards for military uses, backpack load should be no more than 35 kilograms. However, in special cases the load can be heavier than the ergonomic standard. When the backpack is used in difficult terrains, using backpack itself may lead to some muscle injuries and medical problems due to the large amount of load to carry, which can make serious effect to the personnel's performance. Suspended-load backpack can be one of alternative which allow backpack weight move relative to the back position and minimize the backpack amplitude that caused the impact force during user walking or running. In order to improving the user's comfort and find the effective parameter of the system, the further study of the backpack design should be done through modeling and simulation process to find dynamic characteristic and physical characteristic of the backpack system. The paper was described our effective approach to derived dynamic characteristic of own suspended back-pack configuration. The results of this simulation showed that valid enough to represents the real system of suspended-load backpack. The correlation of load variation and walking speed to the system response could be determined as a function of its natural frequency. © 2010 International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.