Effects of Deceleration and Rate of Deceleration on Live Seated Human Subjects

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Centerhttps://doi.org/10.21949/15265931977PDFTech ReportAbernethy, Charles N., IIIPlank, G. R.Sussman, E. DonaldJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)United States. Urban Mass Transportation AdministrationPassenger comfortDecelerationBus transitAutomated guideway transitSeatsDeceleration MaximumsPassenger SafetyRate of DecelerationJerkTransit SeatsUMTA-MA-06-0048-77-3DOT-TSC-UMTA-77-44Final Report; Oct. 1976 - Sep. 1977This report describes the testing of live, seated human subjects to determine the maximum deceleration and associated rate of change of deceleration (jerk) at which the majority of potential users of automated guideway transportation (ACT) systems can remain securely in their seats. In this study, subjects underwent various levels of deceleration and associated jerk in an instrumented vehicle. Subjects were decelerated while seated normally (forward-facing), sideward (turned 90 degrees counterclockwise from the direction of travel), and normally, but tilted backward (facing forward but with the entire seat tilted 5 degrees backward). Subjects also underwent various levels of jerk while seated normal only. Two groups of subjects were chosen to represent anthropometric extremes of potential passengers: males larger than 90 percent of the male population, and females smaller than all but 10 percent of the female population. Based on these tests, an estimate of the maximum permissible emergency deceleration for forward-facing, seated ACT passengers is 0.47g, and for side-facing passengers, 0.41g. The tests also indicated that tilting the entire seat assembly backward 5 degrees increased the estimated maximum permissible deceleration to 0.52g.140