Linking a Dummy to a Mechanism

In a vehicle FE model, quickly and efficiently set kinematic systems such as seats, steering wheels, and pedals in different positions using the Mechanism browser.

A dummy can then be positioned on the seat and may have its hands placed on the steering wheel and feet on the pedals. To couple a dummy to a seat mechanism the degree of freedom of one or more bodies of the dummy (“child” bodies) must be linked to a body of the seat mechanism (“master” body). The motion of the master body will drive the motion of the child bodies; however, the motion of the master body may be limited by the angle limits of the dummy joints.

1.	In the Mechanism browser, right-click on the seat mechanism and select Link to Dummy from the context menu.

2.	In the Dummies dialog, select a dummy to link to the seat mechanism and click Next.

3.	In the Mechanism bodies (Master body) dialog, select the master body from the seat and click Next.

Note: For this use case, it is common to select the seat cushion.

4.	In the Dummy bodies (child bodies) dialog, select the dummy slave bodies and the linked degrees of freedom and click Close.

Note: For this use case, it is common to link to the lower torso of the dummy in degrees of freedom Tx, Ty, and Tz (selected per default).

5.	To fix some of the bodies of the dummy (for example, hands and feet), define constraints on those bodies by selecting Create > Constraint > Point Node or Point Location from the context menu.

6.	Position the seat mechanism. The position of the dummies limbs will be automatically updated.

Example

browser_mechanism_link_to_dummy_initial_state

Initial state

browser_mechanism_link_to_dummy_after_translation

After a translation of 100mm of the seat