Determining the parameters for connections among the elements of design of vehicles in terms of ergonomics and crew safety

This paper reports a study into the working processes of the system «operator ‒ machine ‒ external environment» in land vehicles using the constructed mathematical model. A significant effect has been determined that the structure and parameters of relations between elements of the design exerts on meeting the requirements for ergonomics and safety for crews. The results from numerical experiment have proven the need for an integrated approach at the design phase (modernization) when defining the parameters for the examined object (an example of such an object has been considered with parameters close to the parameters for BTR-60…BTR-80). Feature of the integrated approach is that the requirements regarding ergonomics and the safety requirements have been met simultaneously. From the standpoint of ergonomics, the parameters for ride smoothness, accommodation of an operator (for example, a driver) relative to machine’s controls, were regulated and, in general, within a control cabin, taking into consideration its arrangement. From the standpoint of safety, the parameters were regulated for the case of a landmine explosion. It has been shown that the framework of the applied procedure for optimal design of complex technical systems allows the implementation of the examined object (upgrade) that would comply with the requirements for both ergonomics and safety of crews. The accomplishment of the goal has been confirmed by the calculation results in the form of oscillograms (displacements, velocities, accelerations, forces) for working processes aimed at transforming the force action from a disturbing factor along the way from a wheeled vehicle to operator. The mathematical model makes it possible to quantify and to qualitatively estimate the role of the main parameters for the entire object, and, specifically, the elastic damping relations at two levels (the first level is cushioning a machine’s body, the second level is cushioning the seat of an operator). The numerical experiment was conducted using a Runge-Kutta method with a variable step employing an original software