Evaluation of Crew Protection Performance and Ergonomic Design Aspects of a Light Combat Vehicle During Its Conceptualization Stage

Abstract

The present research aimed to develop a digital mock-up of a futuristic light combat vehicle following a systematic design process with due consideration of crew protection and ergonomics aspects. The overall form (hull-shape) of the vehicle was conceived for high protection capability from the firing of projectiles Armor piercing (AP) rounds. Protection performance of the armoured body was evaluated in terms of the strength-to-weight ratios. For this purpose, protection capability influencing factors like effective thickness, deflection angle and material density of the armoured body was considered. Comparison of the protection capability of the conceptualized vehicle with the existing one was presented in graphical pattern using MS-Excel programme. To check the compatibility of the components in the digital mock-ups of the vehicle with the targeted users, percentile digital manikins (5th, 50th and 95th p) were developed from the anthropometric database of Indian army personnel, using CATIA V-5 software. Comparison of protection performance demonstrated the superiority of the concept model over the existing vehicle. Following a few iterations, the final concept model was able to exhibit that change of forms and materials has a radical impact on protection capability even without compromising lightweight which is crucial for maintaining its rapid mobility. Following ergonomic evaluations, it was ascertained that the final design was well-suited for a wide range of army personnel by considering particular needs of body dimensions, the range of motion of body joints, spinal load and visual aspects.