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This paper presents the usage of the Digital Human Models (DHM) PCMAN and RAMSIS to determine parameters for a supported ingress and egress on a mock-up. Sports cars with lower seating positions show occurring difficulties among older drivers during ingress/egress. To equip sports cars with higher seats or narrow door sills seems limited due to design aspects. Therefore the idea of an ingress/egress support system arose. To build a mock-up, it needs specific dimensions already in the CAD design phase. Here DHM-systems are utilized. As no similar systems are known, no ballpark figures for trajectories of the seat or movement ranges can be derived from literature. Therefore pre-tests were done with a simple manually moved seat. Test persons showed high acceptance and discomfort reduction. In order to design a proper testing environment for repeatable and reliable results, a variable seat with electric motors is built into a mock-up with a package of a sports car.

The lack of measured data is a problem that often occurs when modeling physical human properties. This problem also occurs when trying to describe the human thigh with a finite element model. In this pilot study, an experimental chair was used to gather the required information. Each cushion of the chair consists of 81 pistons. Each piston is controlled individually by a computer. This experimental chair was used in two experiments. In the first experiment, the chair was used to measure the force length characteristics of deformed human thighs during unsupported sitting. In the second experiment, the measurement of the characteristics of undeformed thighs deformed by one piston was attempted. In this paper the test stand, the test procedures, the results und further experiments will be discussed.