Modeling of occupant behavior under lateral vehicle motion (Proposing of model that calculate posture control joint torque and seat reaction force separately and experimental validation)

Abstract

In recent years, research on occupant behavior models has been promoted for vehicle motion control that includes occupant comfort as a control target. In previous research, modeling and verification focusing mainly on behavior, such as occupant head motion, has been conducted. But in order to accurately predict occupant comfort with a model, it is necessary to model and verify not only the behavior but also the joint torque required to maintain posture. When the occupants maintain their posture against the inertial force associated with the motion of the vehicle, they utilize the seat reaction force with the joint torque. So, in order to accurately model the joint torque, it is necessary to measure and model the joint torque and the seat reaction force separately. Therefore, in this research, we tried to make a occupants behavior model and parameter identification method that predicts joint torque and seat reaction force separately. We focused on the occupant’s head and torso motion among the whole body, and these are modeled in the form of an inverted double pendulum. And the seatback reaction force is set as an input in order to accurately predict the joint torque exerted by the occupants. Then, by utilizing existing occupant behavior analysis technology and we measured joint torque and seat reaction force in addition to the behavior of seated occupants and identified each parameter of the model. The model is experimentally verified, and as an example of the use of the proposed method, experiments and parameter identification are performed on occupants with different gaze points, and the changes in occupant’s joint torque control when view conditions are different were quantitatively clarified.

Keywords

• model based design
• vehicle control
• human model
• passenger model
• multibody dynamics