Subjective-Objective Ride Comfort Assessment of Farm Tractors

The paper is focused on both the subjective and the objective ride comfort evaluation of farm tractors. The experimental measurement of the relevant accelerations occurring at the tractor body, at the cabin and at the seat was performed on a number of different farm tractors. A subjective rating of the ride comfort level was performed by considering five different drivers. The comfort index was computed according with ISO 2631 and other standards. The acceleration of the seated subject was computed by means of a proper mechanical model of a farm tractor and derived at different positions on the subject body. It turned out that the acceleration of the lower torso was particularly relevant for establishing a matching between the subjective perception and the objective measurement and computation. A number of indices have been derived from the measured data which are able to correlate the subjective driver feeling with the measured accelerations. A proper comparison of the subjective-objective ride performance of a farm tractor requires a huge number of measurements. There is no possibility to record only the vertical acceleration to assess the ride comfort of farm tractors. A simplified model of the tractor able to quickly simulate the motion of the cab and assess its comfort performance is presented and validated.