Single impact testing of suspension seats for high-speed craft

The goal of this study is to develop a repeatable laboratory test method for testing shock mitigating seats intended for use on board high speed watercraft. The test method is shown to be repeatable and customizable such that impact loads can be tailored to match those measured on a particular high speed watercraft. The repeatability of the impact loads produced is demonstrated and the shock response spectrum mitigation ratio seat performance criterion is used to evaluate test results. Evaluation of the performance of three different shock mitigating seats shows that the seats are able to mitigate up to 40% of the impact severity in a frequency range relevant to the dynamic response of the human lumbar spine. Also, the results of previous research finding that some seat cushions can amplify shock loads under certain conditions are confirmed by this independent testing.