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Abstract: The purpose of this work was to study how the vibrations transmitted to passengers by the minibuses can be reduced. This paper has three parts:
i. Transmissibility determination for some damping materials in terms of elasticity
ii. Determination of vibration acceleration at the floor, handle, seat back, lumbar spine and wrist during minibuses rides
iii. Passengers questionnaire to study the influence of vibration on reading and writing
In the first part, in order to obtain lower vibrations transmitted to passengers, the transmissibility for 34 damping materials was studied in terms of elasticity. The best attenuation was obtained for rigid polyurethane foam. In the second part the weighted acceleration was measured for the 6 men with and without attenuators at floor level, on the hand, at the back rest, near the lumbar spine and at the wrist to ascertain how the whole body vibrations are transmitted (whole body vibrations) and how these vibrations are attenuated by the rigid polyurethane foam. In the third part, 48 passengers were questioned about the vibrations influence on reading and writing and were asked to describe the buss ride in terms of comfort. The results obtained from this study show without doubt that placing a damper on the contact surface between the passenger and seat significantly reduce the minibus-transmitted vibrations, thus increasing the comfort of travelling.

Keyword: whole body vibrations, damping materials, vibrations transmissibility, passengers’ comfort.