RAMSIS NextGen: A General Procedure for Ergonomic Assessment

Creating a Test Sample

The first step in RAMSIS NextGen is to define a role and a test sample. In these steps, the typology and body measurements are defined for each test sample.

RAMSIS holds a wide library of Nation typical body characteristics. Additionally, there is a statistical variation of body measurements in each part of the world as years go by. RAMSIS NextGen varies the body geometry according to dates, besides just taking into account a nation’s typical typology. This would include a projection into the future, meaning that an assessment can be performed on what it has been projected that the human body will look like in the future (e.g. year 2020), in a particular geographical region.

As an assessment can be performed in several positions within a vehicle, RAMSIS NextGen requires from the user to define a role for each test sample (Driver, Passenger, etc.).

Setting Skin Points

Before positioning a test sample within a particular geometrical environment, it is good practice to activate certain points within a manikin’s skin, which will interact with the geometry. These points are manually selected from the manikin, and involve several parts of the body, such as heels, hand palms, top of the head, among others.

Importing Geometry

Geometry can be imported into RAMSIS NexGen as an IGES format. For some license holders, it may be possible to directly import geometry from CATIA V5 in the form of CADParts.

Just as geometry is prepared for Finite Element Analysis (FEA), a complete and well performed assessment in RAMSIS NextGen needs geometry specifically suited for the purpose. This means adding several points within the geometry that allow for interaction with the manikins, having a geometry which allows for manipulation (e.g. rotation, translation, etc.), and geometrical references like seat belt anchorages, rear view mirrors, and most important, the seating diagram.

Associating a Test Sample to Geometry

Since some skin points are activated on the manikin (check “Setting Skin Points”), these are now used to create the interactions between the test samples and the geometry (e.g. hands to wheel, feet to pedals, heels to floor, back to chair,  H-point to seating diagram, etc.). These interactions are saved as specific tasks.

Posture Calculation

After a task has been defined through constraints, RAMSIS NextGen automatically calculates the statistically best posture for the manikin according to these constraints.

Ergonomics Analysis (Comfort, Vision, Forces, Reachability Analysis, etc)

Since the manikin has been positioned according to its task, it is now possible to perform an evaluation on ergonomics from several points of view. Among these are the comfort analysis, visual limits, mirror reflection and field of view, force analysis (forces that can be applied by a test sample according to its position), reachability analysis, and seat belt routing, etc.