Modeling Wheelchair-Users Undergoing Vibrations

A procedure for modeling wheelchair-users undergoing vibrations was developed. Experimental data acquired with a wheelchair simulator were used to develop a model of a seated wheelchair user. Maximum likelihood estimation procedure was used to determine the model complexity required to characterize wheelchair-user's response. It was determined that a two segment rotational link model is adequate for characterization of vibratory response. The parameters of the proposed model were identified using the experimental data and verified using additional experimental results. The proposed approach can be used to develop subject-specific design criteria for wheelchair seating and suspension.