A simplified 3-D human body–seat interaction model and its applications to the vibration isolation design of high-speed marine craft

High-speed boats experience a harsh vibration environment and human response to this environment is of increasing interest to naval architects who wish to mitigate the effects of vibration and shocks. Based on published experiment data, a three-dimensional human body model with one degree-of-freedom in each direction is established. This model is combined with a simple seat model to construct a simplified 3-D human body–seat interaction model for naval architects to investigate the integrated interaction system when subjected to ship motions. The governing equations describing the dynamics of the human body–seat interactions are formulated and their theoretical solutions are derived. This model, in association with the experimental data recorded on board a high-speed marine craft, is used to study seat isolation system designs. The spring coefficient of the seat isolation system is chosen to avoid any resonance of the human–seat interaction system excited by sea waves. The damping coefficient of the seat isolation system is determined to attenuate motions at the most common excitation frequencies. The designed system is further checked by considering its response to an individual slam impact where the designed system is compared with typical existing seats to illustrate the potential advantages of the proposed approach. In addition the designed seat is compared with existing seats excited by actual boat loads. The study provides a simplified, effective approach for high-speed craft seat design in reducing the shock and vibration level experienced by the crew.