Model construction and analysis of ride comfort for high-speed railway seat cushions

BACKGROUND: More and more people choose to travel by high-speed railway. The seats in these vehicles are an important contact point and comfort of the seat cushions needs attention. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to choose among three seat cushions, the one that creates most comfort for a high-speed train. METHODS: Twelve healthy volunteers were selected to participate in the experiment. Three different surface shape models of high-speed railway seat cushions were used. The Seat Pressure Distribution Index (SPD%) was calculated and analysed. A 7-point Likert scale questionnaire was applied for subjective evaluation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The evaluation is based on subjective and objective data. The results showed that the front protruding cushion made the pressure distribution more even, while the flat cushion had the smallest SPD% and the static pressure was most evenly distributed. This knowledge was beneficial for the design of comfortable high-speed railway seat cushions.