Digital Human Modeling for Vehicle and Workplace Design

The ability to digitally simulate how humans interact with a product has the potential to revolutionize the way companies design, build, operate, and maintain new products. Digital modeling and simulation techniques have already proven their ability to significantly reduce the cycle time and cost of designing new products, and have generally improved the quality of products and made them faster, easier, and cheaper to produce, operate, and maintain. This book is dedicated to the proposition that one of the most cost-effective means of improving the ergonomic aspect of any future vehicle or workplace design is to utilize the rapidly emerging technology referred to as digital human modeling, or DHM. The first chapter in the book describes the historical basis and development of the most popular DHM programs over the last 30 years. Seven case studies are presented wherein digital human models were used to solve different types of physical problems associated with proposed human-machine interaction tasks. The authors of each of these case studies were highly involved in each problem scenario, allowing the reader to gain an intimate appreciation of what each user/author expected to gain from the application of a particular DHM, and what benefits and limitations resulted from their efforts. CHAPTERS INCLUDE: Anthropometric Analyses of Crew Interfaces and Component Accessibility for the International Space Station; Human Model Evaluations of Air Force System Designs; Ship Bridge Design and Evaluation Using Human Modeling Systems and Virtual Environments; Using Digital Human Modeling in a Virtual Heavy Vehicle Development Environment; The Determination of the Human Factors/Occupant Packaging Requirements for Adjustable Pedal Systems; Ergonomics Analysis of Sheet Metal Handling; Digital Human Modeling for Improved Product and Process Feasibility Studies. The final chapter attempts to summarize the collective experiences and lessons learned from the seven cases.