Natural Frequency Analysis of Automotive Seating System by using FEM Software

Siddha Uttam Y. & Kumbhar Samir B.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, RIT Sakharale 415414, Sangli, Maharashtra, India. E-mail : uttamsiddha@gmail.com, samir.kumbhar@ritindia.edu

Abstract - Seat is one of the most suited components for the tactile response, as the passengers and driver is in contact directly with the seat. From NVH (Noise vibration Harshness) point of view in an automobile structure Seats are the most important part. The vibration sensation is a common man-made non-natural surrounding with which humans have a restricted acceptance to survive due to their body dynamics. The design achieved for the seating system to protect the human body in a vibration surroundings. Finite element analysis is being latest regularly to calculate vibration and response to understand the nature of ride vibration and its effect on perceived human comfort. The aim of this paper is to analyze an automotive seating system for Vibration concern and to check whether it meets the final OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) requirements of modal frequency management. In this paper prepare a Finite element model of the seat and analyze it for the natural frequencies from the Modal management point of view find out critical natural frequencies and isolate it from the range of other automotive component and human body frequency ranges for avoiding the resonance occurrence. Keywords - Finite element analysis, Natural frequency, Noise vibration Harshness, Whole body vibration

II. WHY FE ANALYSIS IS REQUIRED FOR SEATING SYSTEM The FEA technique has developed to a point where design, meshing, analysis and post processing are greatly built-in and automatic. The automotive seating system is mesh in detail by FEM basics and is simulated for a variety of load cases. Once, a logical level of assurance was gained, the design is accepted to the seat system. Reducing development costs and time, even as delivering high superiority products is one of the main challenges for automotive OEMs and their suppliers. The growth of new automobile seats is extremely time uncontrollable and expensive since it is classically based on experimental evaluation by means of prototypes. FEA models of the human-seat interaction may possibly speed up this development. III. VIBRATION DESIGN ISSUES OF NEW AUTOMOTIVE SEATING SYSTEM The automotive vehicle is travelling on all kinds of road. Roads are characterized by surface roughness profile. The road excitation cause the vehicle to response and the response for human is called as the ride behavior. The Automotive vehicles consist of a number of components made up of other assemblies such as steering column, doors and engine vibration. Different components will have to be adjusted for different frequencies. . The natural frequency of this component must be separated from each other otherwise these will lead to extremely embracing condition thus find out all critical natural frequencies of seating system and separate it from the range of further automotive component frequencies for avoiding the resonance occurrence. International Standard Organization (ISO) presents an accepted and helpful standard concerning ride comfort (ISO 2631). It belonging to vibrations on the human, classify the vibrations between 0.5 and 80 Hz according to frequencies that cause the tire, human health problem, discomfort, and it also classifies the
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I.

INTRODUCTION

Vibration generated from other sources like engine, road surface, tires, exhaust, etc. should be taken careful in the design of an automotive body. These vibrations pass through systems (body, drive train, suspension, etc.) to the seats, steering wheel and further areas where it is detected by the human body in the vehicle [1].Whole body vibration experienced throughout travelling is extremely perceived like a source of discomfort. The seat investigation is necessary to know the characteristic of a seat and to design the seat vibration controller for most important interface between passengers and the vehicle. Finite element analysis is a commanding method to simulate the mechanical behavior of a system.

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vibrations between 0.1 and 0.5 Hz effect with motion disease [3]. The mainly reason of this case is a resonance condition that exists from the coincidence of the natural frequencies of human body structures and the vibration frequencies comes from the automotive vehicle. Vibration transmissibility, mainly in the vertical direction, is one of the majorities considered point measures of automotive seat comfort. The passengers, due to the most important flexion mode of the trunk, demonstrate a resonance in vertical vibration between 4 and 8Hz. This is difficult because automotive vehicle seats have a tendency to create a resonance in the same range. Thus particular aspects have to be measured and organize to care for the human body. For this motivation of improving the ride comfort, it is needed either to maintain the Frequencies upper at about 8 Hz or to keep the frequencies lesser than 4 Hz [2].
IV.

role in terms of vehicle selling. It was recognized that vary in the discomfort is proportion to a change in amount of vibration that is a doubling in vibration amount cause a doubling of discomfort. Discomfort is also strongly associated to vibration frequencies at low frequencies (1to2Hz), Overall discomfort caused because of Vibration is transmitted without magnification to the human body at a little higher frequency a range of body resonances tends to increase the motion. B. Effect on Health Spinal column diseases: There are the most common diseases related with long term experience to WBV, as the spinal column is particularly responsive to the frequency range 4-12Hz Digestive system diseases: These are observed in persons exposed to WBV over a long period of time and are related with the resonant movement of the stomach at frequencies between 4 and 5Hz. Cardiovascular system effects: Expanded experience to WBV at frequencies below 20Hz could result in hyperventilation, increase in heart rate, pulmonary ventilation and respiratory. Effects of task performance: Some of the WBV effects may result in injury or health damage, but can cause problem performing difficult task. The Natural frequency of human body parts are show in the following table. Sr. no 1 2 3 4 5 6 Body part Shoulder Abdominal Hand Spinal column Head Chest wall Natural frequency(Hz) of human body part 4-5 4-8 30-50 10-12 20-30 50-60

EFFECT OF VEHICLE VIBRATION ON HUMAN BODY

The Vibration acting on the human body are called human vibration and may be of the following 1) Motion sickness, classically initiate in vehicle with extremely flexible suspension and these take place in the frequency range 0.1 to 0.63Hz. 2) Whole body vibration (WBV) in automotive vehicle taking place in the frequency range 1 to 80Hz. One of the mainly significant parts of the human body which extremely responsive to vibration and shocks is the stomach with resonance in the vertical direction happening in the 4 to 8 Hz and vibration range 2.5 to 5 Hz make strong resonance in the spinal column. The transmission of vibration to the human body at the natural frequency of the human body as a total or of its individual parts will cause resonance phenomenon. This embracing situation occurs in which the total human body or individual parts will vibrate at a level greater than the applied vibration environments. WBV is normally due to vibration in the frequency range 0.5 to 80 Hz to which the human body responds considerably. Vibration gets transfer from pedals and seat of a running automotive vehicle to the driver or passenger. The major effect on comfort, human health and task performance due to Whole body vibration are explained below. A. Effect on Comfort Vehicle ride comfort is one of the most important factors touching the purchase choice and customer fulfillment. Gathering the purchaser comfort requirements, this is an accepted issue, acting a central

Table 1: Natural frequency of human body parts C. Understand Factors Affecting Automotive Seat Comfort There are numerous factors that concern automobile seat comfort. Then stiffness, contour, geometry and styling are considered as seat factors. Stiffness refers to the resiliency of the seating system. Geometry defines seat shape in terms of length, width and height, whereas contour deal with the profile of the seated surface .The seats geometry and contour related with the anthropometric variability of the target population.

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Styling must be integrated as a seat factor because visual superiority may affect perceptions of comfort. V. VIBRATION DUE TO ENGINE The reciprocating parts of the engine may cause vibration in vehicle due to the periodic disturbances. The engine of the vehicle is running at the 2100rpm i.e.35Hz. The main difficulty is the resonance, where response levels under dynamic loading can be 10 or 100 times more than the magnitude resulting as of static loading of the equal amount. Mechanical vibration of a vehicle is caused by the vibrating components of the vehicle. Every moving component has a definite frequency related with its movement so, the generally vibration transmitted to a human body in contact with the seat is made up of different frequencies of vibration happening simultaneously. This is a significant fact to get into consideration when measuring human vibration because the human body part is not equally sensitive to all frequencies of vibration. VI. INPUT DATA FOR ANALYSIS BY FEM A. Geometry Requirement A seat assembly consists of the components: Seat tracks, Seat back rest, Headrest, arm rest, reclining bracket, front cross member, pivot bracket, cushion tube and rear hook. B. Material properties all components

D. Requirement for Meshing Acceptance criteria of seat model quality are considered acceptable when meets the body mesh model Quality check list concerning the various mesh quality parameters such as length , aspect ratio, min and max angles of tria and quad along with percentage of trias in the mesh and the mainly essential parameter, the Jacobian or distortion of the mesh from an ideal shape . E. Assembly of Seat Components Analysis of seat for the natural frequency it is required to be meshed with elements to get the component mesh. When all the parts in the assembly are meshed, they are all connected as one using suitable fastening elements such as Rigid (RBE2).

Fig 1: Assembly of seat F. Check the Free-Free Run for Natural Frequencies It is the very important meshing check for assembly of components for Natural frequency calculations without applying any constraints. Any single object allowed to vibrate freely, should show first 6 modes as rigid (natural frequencies = 0) & 7 modes onward deformable modes with positive value of natural frequency. Any number of zero frequency modes greater than 6 means that the model has free connections. G. Boundary Conditions Once the CAD geometry is meshed (i.e. approximated by finite elements), then assembled with each other. Material and property information linked to the elements and constraints are assigned. H. Solution with NASTRAN The free-free run is complete then export the mesh file in NASTRAN format for post processing. The FEM
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Table 2 : Material properties C. Pre-Processing Any FE analysis process starts with the import of the components CAD geometry (IGES Format) into preprocessor i.e. Hypermesh Meshing is the core step in the finite element analysis as the quality of the mesh directly reflects on the quality of the results obtained. Deciding the element type and generating the mesh using manual or special meshing operations. Shell element is used for thin wall part having small thickness. It is the most commonly used plate element. It is a 4-noded flat plate element It is capable of resisting both, in-plane and out-of-plane loads.

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model is consisting of nodes, elements, material properties and constraints. I. Post Processing

3 4 5 6

26.36 35.07 43.01 55.94

Natural frequency and mode shape are plotted and examined to see how the part responded to the various loading conditions. Based on the results, modifications may be made to the part and a new analysis may be run to observe how the modifications affected the part. The modal analysis in structural mechanics is to determine the natural mode shapes and frequencies of an object. It is a basic design property. Natural frequency information is useful for avoiding resonance. VII. MODAL ANALYSIS OF SEAT FOR NATURAL FREQUENCY Seat is continuous system so it has infinite frequency only find out critical frequency it is very close to human body. A. Natural Frequency of Seat for Steel Material The analysis of seat we use the steel material for whole assembly of seat and find out the critical natural frequency of seat.

Table .3 : Natural frequency of steel material The engine frequency (35Hz) of the vehicle and 4th natural frequency (35.07Hz) of seat is same then resonance occurs in the seat. The 4th (35.07Hz) and 5th (43.01 Hz) natural frequency of arm rest is match with the natural frequency ranges of human hand of the body(30-50 Hz) so the resonance occurs in this region. Human body part Hand Spinal Head N.F. of body part(Hz) 30-50 10-12 20-30 N.F. of componen t Arm rest Back rest Head rest Engine 35Hz) N.F. of Seat (Hz) 35.07 26.36 55.94 35.07

Reso nance Yes No No Yes

Table. 4 : Comparison of human body part and components for steel material B. Cast iron material for seat components

From previous analysis resonance in seat assembly then it requires change natural frequencies of seat for the analysis of seat we use the cast iron material for whole assembly of seat.

Fig.3 : Natural frequency of cast iron material for seat Fig. 2 : Natural frequency of seat for steel material Fig2 shows that the forth natural frequency of seat we can see that the maximum of the deformation is taking place at the arm rest component of seat. This is due to the fact that vibration is going to act on this part of the seat. The frequency of the vibration for this particular mode of the seat is 35.07Hz. Mode number 1 2 Natural frequency(Hz) 17.93 24.66 Fig3 shows that the maximum value of the displacement is taking place at the arm rest component of seat. This is due to the fact that vibration is going to act on this part of the seat. This mode shows that this is the natural frequency of the arm rest. The frequency of the vibration for this particular mode of the seat is 44.21Hz. The engine frequency of the vehicle is near to the natural frequency of head rest of seat then resonance may be occurs in the seat assembly. The natural
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frequency of arm rest is 44.21Hz match with the natural frequency ranges of human hand of the body (30-50 Hz) so the resonance occurs in this region. Natural Human Natural Natural frequency body frequency of frequency of Seat Resonance part components (Hz) Hand 30-50 Arm rest 44.21 Yes Spinal 10-12 Back rest 20.89 No Head 20-30 Head rest 33.94 No Engine(35Hz) 33.94 Yes

arm rest component and steel is used for other component of seat assembly for avoiding resonance of seat.

TableV5: Comparison of human body part and components for cast iron material Previous analysis of the both material resonance occurs in seat assembly then it requires change natural frequencies of seat isolate from the range of other component frequency and human body for avoiding the resonance phenomenon. VII. SEAT MODIFICATIONS AND ANALYSIS The design modification process included the development of a finite element model using Hypermesh that was suitable for computing natural frequency in individual members of the seat assembly under dynamic loadings. A. Steel and Cast Iron Material for Seat The new seat assembly model is generated by using both steel and cast iron material because from previous analysis we can find that individual steel or cast iron has resonance frequency so modification of seat can be done with both material are used for assembly of seat for the avoidance of the resonance .

Fig. 5 : Natural frequency of Steel and cast iron material for seat Fig5 show that the second natural frequency of seat. We observe that the maximum value of the displacement is taking place at the arm rest component. This is due to the fact that vibration is going to act on this part of the seat. These are observed in persons exposed to WBV over a long period of time and are associated with the resonant movement of the hand. The frequency of the vibration for this particular mode of the seat is 22.22Hz.
Natural Human frequency body of body part part(Hz) Hand 30-50 Spinal Head 10-12 20-30 Natural frequency of components Arm rest Back rest Head rest Engine (35Hz) Natural frequency of Seat (Hz) 22.22 25.81 32.17 32.17 Resonance

No No No No

Table6- Comparison of human body parts and seat components for both steel and cast iron material combination. A seat design modification improves the vibration performance of the seat in vibration surroundings of the vehicle so change the material of arm rest of seat. The changing seat frame stiffness then change the natural frequency of the seat assembly beyond the principal vibration frequency of the automotive vehicle. Fig. 4: Modified seat with two materials Fig4 shows that the two materials are used for the analysis of seat assembly. The cast iron is used for the
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On the basis of FE analysis result, we can conclude that both steel and cast iron material combination would be a better choice for seat assembly to avoid the resonance phenomenon so the natural frequency of seat component must be separated from frequency of the human body parts. IX. REFERENCES [1] Fazlollahtabar, Hamed. "A subjective framework for seat comfort based on a heuristic multi criteria decision making technique and anthropometry." ELSEVIER, 2010. Kaya, I. Karen & N. "A design tool to evaluate the vehicle ride comfort characteristics: modeling, physical testing, and analysis." Springer, 2011. Kolich, Mike. "A conceptual framework proposed to formalize the scientific investigation of automobile seat comfort." ELSEVIER,2007. Lange, M.M. Verver and R. de. "aspects of seat modelling for seating comfort analysis." ELSEVIER, 2004. Pankoke, A. Siefer and S. "Virtual optimisation of car passenger seats: Simulation of static and dynamic effects on drivers seating comfort." Max-Planck-Strasse Hochberg, Bavaria, Germany., 2007. Rosen, Jacob, and Jacob Rosen. "Modeling the Human Body/Seat System in a Vibration Environment." Department of Electrical Engineering,University of Washington.

[2] Plot1 : Effect of material on natural frequency of seat The engine is to run for any continuous length of time for the avoidance of placing any resonance at or near human body part and speeds. Which indicates possible resonances and thus potentially hazardously high levels of vibration can be moved by changing either the running speed or the natural frequencies. The designer generally has more flexibility in the change the natural frequency parameter of component and so the first choice for vibration control is resonance avoidance by changing the material of critical components of seat so that their natural frequencies do not coincide with human body parts and engine order lines at running speeds. VIII. CONCLUSIONS The model of new seating system for vibration response is developed and it analyzed by simulation for purpose of minimizes human body responses. In this analysis, finite element advance is used to analyze the vibration feature of seating system by determining the natural frequency for steel and cast iron material. The analysis result shows that individual steel and cast iron material are showing resonant frequency in hand rest of seat so we change the material of the arm rest.

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