Nonlinearity in apparent mass and transmissibility of the supine human body during vertical whole-body vibration

Resonance frequencies evident in the apparent mass and the transmissibility of the human body decrease with increasing vibration magnitude, but the mechanisms responsible for this nonlinearity have not been established. This experiment was designed to explore the effects of body location on the nonlinearity of the body in supine postures. In a group of 12 male subjects, the apparent mass and transmissibility to the sternum, upper abdomen, and lower abdomen were measured in three postures (relaxed semi-supine, flat supine and constrained semi-supine) with vertical random vibration (0.25–20 Hz) at seven vibration magnitudes (nominally 0.0313, 0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 ms−2 rms). In all three postures, the apparent mass resonance frequencies and the primary peak frequencies in the transmissibilities to the upper and lower abdomen decreased with increases in vibration magnitude from 0.25 to 1.0 ms−2 rms. Nonlinearity generally apparent in transmissibility to the abdomen was less evident in transmissibility to the sternum and less evident in transmissibilities to the abdomen at vibration magnitudes less than 0.125 ms−2 rms. The nonlinearity was more apparent in the flat supine posture than in the semi-supine postures. The findings are consistent with the nonlinearity being associated with the response of soft tissues, more likely a consequence of passive thixotropy than muscle activity.