Simulating ingress motion for heavy earthmoving equipment

Abstract

Design of heavy earth moving equipment is based primarily on feedback from the driver. Most design studies on ingress focus on the motion itself and rely heavily on experimental data. This process requires physical construction of an expensive mockup before any feedback can be obtained. Moreover, most research and development on subject of ingress are limited to studies on passenger vehicles. Although the design of heavy vehicles requires more consideration to human safety and comfort, very little attention has been given to simulating ingress movement on those vehicles. This paper describes the development of a model to perform ingress motion for heavy equipment and its applications to study the response of the operator for different cab designs using SantosTM, the digital human model developed at Virtual Soldier Research at the University of Iowa. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.