Investigating the Effect of Seat Features and Cushion Material on Seat Comfort using Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

The need for comfortable seats rises as individuals spend more time sitting to perform various activities. The design and material used for cushioning the chairs play an important part in the overall comfort experienced by the human. Traditional methods, like questionnaires, for evaluating seat comfort are not accurate since the interpretation of discomfort is subjective and varies from human to human. Thus, this study proposes a system that models humans of different anthropometry and seats of different designs and cushion materials using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and then evaluates seat comfort by testing the contact pressure between them using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) at early design stages without the need for physical prototyping.