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Whole Body Vibration Impact Assessment on Dumper Operator Using Computational Learning Technique

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Abstract

In the mining industry, the dumper vehicle plays a vital role in material handling tasks. During the various operations, the dumper operators are subjected to whole-body vibrations (WBV) which also affects their physiological factors. The present study investigates the dumper operator discomfort during various dumper operations such as material-loading (ML), loaded-travel (LT), material-unloading (MU) and unloaded-travel (UT). As per ISO 2631:1 specified, limit during the ML and MU task, the measured crest factor value is greater than the recommended values. However, the measured aw(8) and VDV(8) magnitude are within the specified limit. In the LT, it is observed that the VDV is within the limit, although the measured value is 1.39 times greater than MU task. The maximum WBV is observed during the UT, and the measured value of VDV falls above the specified limit, and experience a greater amplification of source vibration at 1.6 Hz. Moreover, the demand for high number of operation cycle increases the risk of neck pain and back pain among the study population. Operator physiological stress under WBV exposure showed a significant increase in heart rate by 2.04 bpm. Whereas, no significant influence on the increase in blood pressure (SYS/DIA: 1.56/0.76 mmHg) and a decrease in oxygen saturation level (SpO2) by 1% was observed. Therefore, to optimize the performance of seat design under different operation cycle using computational learning technique support vector machine classifier with quadratic preset model provides a best accuracy of 98.5% over the other machine learning algorithm. The study reveals that the prolonged sitting and constant experience of WBV could increase the job work stress, the computational learning technique warranted to prevent the operator from high WBV exposures.

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Abbreviations

WBV:

Whole-body vibrations

ML:

Material-loading

LT:

Loaded-travel

MU:

Material-unloading

UT:

Unloaded-travel

SVM:

Support vector machine

HEMM:

Heavy earth moving machinery

VDV:

Vibration dose value

MTVV:

Maximum transient vibration value

CF:

Crest factor

HGCZ:

Health guidance caution zone

EAV:

Exposure action value

ELV:

Exposure limit value

LBP:

Low back pain

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by L & T Construction & Mining Machinery under L&T/PSD/NDT/TSL/FY19-20/01. The author also thankful to TATA STEEL Iron Ore Projects for the needful support on dumper operator’s participation in the field study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Machinery Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India

    Kaviraj Ramar & L. A. Kumaraswamidhas

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, 769008, India

    P. S. Balaji

  3. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Anna University, Thoothukkudi Campus, Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu, 628008, India

    A. Agasthian

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Additional file 1

: WBV exposure one-way Repeated Measure ANOVA statistical results

Appendices

Appendix-1 Questionaire Survey

figure e

B Postural demand and health related discomfort due to dumper vehicle operation

(See Tables

Table 6 Operator postural demand during different phases of the operation cycle
Full size table

6,

Table 7 Operator different section comfort score during different phases of the operation cycle
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7,

Table 8 Subject different section pain related medical history and personnel feedback
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8).

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Ramar, K., Kumaraswamidhas, L.A., Balaji, P.S. et al. Whole Body Vibration Impact Assessment on Dumper Operator Using Computational Learning Technique. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 24, 219–238 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-022-00732-0

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