Vibration isolation evaluation of transit bus operator seats based on lower torso acceleration

This paper presents the characterization and testing of several representative transit bus operator seats. The test procedure used a mechanical ride quality dummy to evaluate the vibrations of the mechanical analogue thorax and hips. Reducing the vibrations of these equivalent masses will reduce lower back injury, since lower back injury is a function of acceleration cycles. A statistical t-test is used to assess the relative performance of the seats in attenuating vibration at the dummy's resonant frequencies. It is found that seats with a 6 link pinjoint suspension and stiffer cushion properties generally performed better at attenuating vibration at these frequencies.