Human Response To Vibration

Through continued collaboration and the sharing of ideas, data, and results, the international community of researchers and practitioners has developed an understanding of many facets of the human response to vibration. At a time when the EU is preparing to adopt a directive on health risks arising from occupational exposure to vibration, Human Response to Vibration offers authoritative guidance on this complex subject. Individual chapters in the book examine issues relating to whole-body vibration, hand-arm vibration, and motion sickness. Vibration measurements and standards are also addressed. This book meets the needs of those requiring knowledge of human response to vibration in order to make practical improvements to the physical working environment. Written with the consultant, practitioner, researcher, and student in mind, the text is designed to be an educational tool, a reference, and a stimulus for new ideas for the next generation of specialists.

Today the human body is exposed to vibration not only while traveling but also during leisure and domestic activities and in many occupations. This volume summarizes the current understanding of the many human responses to vibration. Divided into two parts, this book deals with whole-body vibrations and hand-transmitted vibration. In each part the experimental data and appropriate models are presented in detail so that readers can address practical problems. An extensive guide to national and international standards is provided, and a large multidisciplinary glossary of terms assists in understanding the relevant technical and medical jargon. This comprehensive reference volume is accessible to all those interested in human vibration: medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists, and health and safety officials and administrators. LK uses the following bulleted list_ This new text features: An up-to-date statement of current knowledge on human responses to vibration A comprehensive glossary of terms in current use in the fields of vibration and human response An extensive bibliography and guide to national and international standards

Through continued collaboration and the sharing of ideas, data, and results, the international community of researchers and practitioners has developed an understanding of many facets of the human response to vibration. At a time when the EU is preparing to adopt a directive on health risks arising from occupational exposure to vibration, Human Response to Vibration offers authoritative guidance on this complex subject. Individual chapters in the book examine issues relating to whole-body vibration, hand-arm vibration, and motion sickness. Vibration measurements and standards are also addressed. This book meets the needs of those requiring knowledge of human response to vibration in order to make practical improvements to the physical working environment. Written with the consultant, practitioner, researcher, and student in mind, the text is designed to be an educational tool, a reference, and a stimulus for new ideas for the next generation of specialists.

Authors: Hugo Bachmann, Walter J. Ammann, Florian Deischl, Josef Eisenmann, Ingomar Floegl, Gerhard H. Hirsch, Günter K. Klein, Göran J. Lande, Oskar Mahrenholtz, Hans G. Natke, Hans Nussbaumer, Anthony J. Pretlove, Johann H. Rainer, Ernst-Ulrich Saemann, Lorenz Steinbeisser. Large structures such as factories, gymnasia, concert halls, bridges, towers, masts and chimneys can be detrimentally affected by vibrations. These vibrations can cause either serviceability problems, severely hampering the user's comfort, or safety problems. The aim of this book is to provide structural and civil engineers working in construction and environmental engineering with practical guidelines for counteracting vibration problems. Dynamic actions are considered from the following sources of vibration: - human body motions, - rotating, oscillating and impacting machines, - wind flow, - road traffic, railway traffic and construction work. The main section of the book presents tools that aid in decision-making and in deriving simple solutions to cases of frequently occurring "normal" vibration problems. Complexer problems and more advanced solutions are also considered. In all cases these guidelines should enable the engineer to decide on appropriate solutions expeditiously. The appendices of the book contain fundamentals essential to the main chapters.

The observations made by Paracelsus concerning the dose-effect relationship of poison are generally just as applicable to health threatening vibration. With regard to kind, intensity, and duration of the vibration, the "dose" is decisive as to whether the conse quences are detrimental, unmeaningful, or tolerable with respect to health. This law of nature determines the tasks and goals of those whose aim is to safeguard health. Researchers worldwide have been occupying themselves with this many-faceted question for some time: how mechanical vibration affects the human organism and at what point damage occurs. If prevention in occupational medicine is to succeed, it is most important that the gaps in our present knowledge be closed, for if technical preventive measures are to be effective and preventive means in occupational medicine successful, they must be based on reliable and complete findings. Whenever many independent researchers have worked in a given field for a long period, a comprehensive intermediate as sessment is appropriate to evaluate the level achieved and the direction the research is going. In the area of hand-arm vibration, this evaluation has already been carried out, and the response aroused by this particular research report had led to a demand for a comparable evaluation of the research results on whole-body vibration. This report presents clearly and exhaustively the current status of international knowledge, as well as the questions that remain to be answered.