Transmissibility of z-axis vibration from car-body to pedal-pad on tarmac and paved road surfaces

Abstract

Vibration at the pedal-pad can contribute to discomfort of foot plantar fascia during driving. This study was conducted to determine the Pedal-pad Effective Amplitude Transmissibility(PEAT) value and comparison frequency-weighted root-mean-square (r.m.s) acceleration on z-axis vibration magnitude for three different sizes of pedal-pad on the two different road surfaces (tarmac and paved). ISO 2631-1:1997 was used for frequency-weighting (Wi) and frequency weighting r.m.s acceleration values calculated in one-third octave step with range of frequency 0.5 Hz to 80 Hz in z-axis vibration. The result shows that the percentage of PEAT value on paved road surface is more than 100% and when compared to tarmac road surface are much higher for all three sizes of pedal-pads. Based on frequency-weighted r.m.s acceleration for three different sizes of pedal-pad, the paved road surface contributed more vibration to pedal-pad compared with the tarmac road surface. In conclusion, the paved road surface produced higher Z-axis vibration transmissibility from car-body to pedal-pads compared to tarmac road surface