An examination of the vibration transmissibility of the hand-arm system in three orthogonal directions

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Welcome, Daniel E.¹; Dong, Ren G.¹; Xu, Xueyan S.¹; Warren, Christopher¹; McDowell, Thomas W.¹; Wu, John Z.¹

An examination of the vibration transmissibility of the hand-arm system in three orthogonal directions

Int J Ind Ergon. February 2015;45:21-34

© Published by Elsevier B.V.

Affiliations

¹Engineering & Control Technology Branch, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
Abstract and keywords

The objective of this study is to enhance the understanding of the vibration transmission in the hand-arm system in three orthogonal directions (X, Y, and Z). For the first time, the transmitted vibrations distributed on the entire hand-arm system exposed in the three orthogonal directions via a 3-D vibration test system were measured using a 3-D laser vibrometer. Seven adult male subjects participated in the experiment. This study confirms that the vibration transmissibility generally decreased with the increase in distance from the hand and it varied with the vibration direction. Specifically, to the upper arm and shoulder, only moderate vibration transmission was measured in the test frequency range (16 to 500 Hz), and virtually no transmission was measured in the frequency range higher than 50 Hz. The resonance vibration on the forearm was primarily in the range of 16–30 Hz with the peak amplitude of approximately 1.5 times of the input vibration amplitude. The major resonance on the dorsal surfaces of the hand and wrist occurred at around 30–40 Hz and, in the Y direction, with peak amplitude of more than 2.5 times of the input amplitude. At higher than 50 Hz, vibration transmission was effectively limited to the hand and fingers. A major finger resonance was observed at around 100 Hz in the X and Y directions and around 200 Hz in the Z direction. In the fingers, the resonance magnitude in the Z direction was generally the lowest, and the resonance magnitude in the Y direction was generally the highest with the resonance amplitude of 3 times the input vibration, which was similar to the transmissibility at the wrist and hand dorsum. The implications of the results are discussed.

Relevance to industry: Prolonged, intensive exposure to hand-transmitted vibration could result in hand-arm vibration syndrome. While the syndrome's precise mechanisms remain unclear, the characterization of the vibration transmissibility of the system in the three orthogonal dimensions performed in this study can help understand the syndrome and help develop improved frequency weightings for assessing the risk of the exposure for developing various components of the syndrome.

Keywords: Hand-arm vibration transmissibility; Hand-transmitted vibration; Human-arm vibration; Vibration biodynamic response
Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.ergon.2014.11.001

PubMed: 26635424

WoS: 000348883500003
History

Received: 2012-05-21

Revised: 2014-07-11

Accepted: 2014-11-22

Online: 2014-12-13

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Cited By (14)

Year	Entry
2015	Dong RG, Sinsel EW, Welcome DE, Warren C, Xu XS, McDowell TW, Wu JZ. Review and evaluation of hand–arm coordinate systems for measuring vibration exposure, biodynamic responses, and hand forces. Saf Health Work. September 2015;6(3):159-173.
2018	Berger M. Physical constraints of certified anti vibration gloves and a suggested paradign shift. In: Proceedings of the 7th American Conference on Human Vibration. June 13-15, 2018; Seattle, WA.31-32.
2021	Welcome DE, Xu XS, Warren C, McDowell T, Dong RG. Assessment of the gloved finger response using a finger adapter and 3D laser vibrometer. In: Proceedings of the 8th American Conference on Human Vibration. June 23-25, 2021; Online due to COVID-19.
2019	Johnson PW, Reinhall P, Zaklit W, Anderson L, Sarnowicz S, Quigley C, Gardner R, HansonSmith R, Ryou HF. An exploratory study comparing three rivet guns and the hand arm vibration exposures transmitted through the upper extremities. In: 54th UK Conference on Human Response to Vibration. September 24-26, 2019; Edinburgh, UK.
2019	Cavacece M, Aghilone G. Effects of vibration directions, postures and velocity levels on measurements of the mechanical impedance of the hand-arm system. In: 54th UK Conference on Human Response to Vibration. September 24-26, 2019; Edinburgh, UK.
2019	Goggins KA, Tarabini M, Lievers WB, Eger TR. Biomechanical response of the human foot when standing in a natural position while exposed to vertical vibration from 10–200 Hz. Ergonomics. May 2019;6(5):644-656.
2019	Goggins KA, Tarabini M, Lievers WB, Eger TR. Standing centre of pressure alters the vibration transmissibility response of the foot. Ergonomics. June 2019;62(9):1202-1213.
2024	Stjernbrandt A, Pettersson H, Vihlborg P, Höper AC, Aminoff A, Wahlström J, Nilsson T. Raynaud’s phenomenon in the feet of Arctic open-pit miners. Int J Circumpolar Health. 2024;83(1):2295576.
2017	Xu XS, Dong RG, Welcome DE, Warren C, McDowell TW, Wu JZ. Vibrations transmitted from human hands to upper arm, shoulder, back, neck, and head. Int J Ind Ergon. November 2017;62:1-12.
2021	Jalali P, Ettefagh MM, Hassannejad R. Recognizing the viscoelastic safe area of work shoe sole in the sitting posture with vibration transmissibility in the vertical direction. Int J Ind Ergon. January 1, 2021;81:103053.
2019	Marzaroli P, Albanetti A, Negri E, Giberti H, Tarabini M. Design and testing of a 3-DOF robot for studying the human response to vibration. Machines. December 2019;7(4):67.
2020	Goggins KA, Oddson BE, Lievers WB, Eger TR. Anatomical locations for capturing magnitude differences in foot-transmitted vibration exposure, determined using multiple correspondence analysis. Theor Issues Egron Sci. 2020;21(5):562-576.
2021	Dong RG, Wu JZ, Xu XS, Welcome DE, Krajnak K. A review of hand–arm vibration studies conducted by US NIOSH since 2000. Vibration. 2021;4(2):482-528.
2019	Goggins KA. Measuring and Modelling Human Response to Foot-Transmitted Vibration Exposure [PhD thesis]. Sudbury, ON: Laurentian University; 2019.