Prolonged exposure of the hand to tool-induced vibrations is associated with the
occurrence of debilitating conditions such as vibration white finger. The primary aim of this
work is to gain a better understanding of the effects of different aspects of exposure to
finger transmitted vibration (FTV) related to operators using hand-held vibrating tools. To
achieve this, firstly, a new method for measuring finger transmitted vibration was
developed and assessed, including a tool vibration test rig and measurement protocol. The
effect on FTV measurement of using a small accelerometer attached to the back of the
finger was investigated using 2D finite element modelling. Comparisons were also made
using a laser vibrometer. Analysis showed that the new test rig is capable of measuring FTV
at frequencies ranging from 10 to 400 Hz, under different grip force levels, and that adding
a small accelerometer mass (0.3 grams) did not significantly affect measurements.
A human participant study then carried out using the new rig. Various characteristic
measurements were collected in tandem, including anthropometry, skin characterisation
and behaviour under loading to investigate the effect of different factors on FTV. The
results showed that FTV varied among individuals and the key finding was that exposure to
vibration has a significant effect on finger temperature even for a short period of testing.
Anti-vibration (AV) glove materials were investigated using dynamic mechanical analysis
(DMA) and tested using human participants. The results showed that the mechanical
properties of AV materials change under real world industrial conditions such as excitation
frequencies and temperature.
Finally, a new artificial test-bed was developed to replicate the transmitted vibration of the
index finger. Studies were conducted on a range of 5 test-beds, to allow comparison with
the human measurements, including indentation, vibration transmissibility and FE
modelling. FE modelling showed that the distribution of dynamic strain was found to be
highest in the vasculature region of the finger, indicating that this could be one of the
contributing factors of VWF. One of the finger test-bed was selected as best replicating
the mechanical properties of the real finger. The artificial test-bed provided better
consistency than human participants, for testing parameters, such as grip force, and can
be used in future for testing AV gloves with no need for human subjects.ii
Further investigations are suggested to be made to enhance the limitations of this project,
including material analysis, testing protocol and finite element modelling.
Keywords:, hand-arm vibration syndromes, vibration white finger, FTV, transmissibility,
resonance frequency, grip force, AV glove, finger mechanical properties, artificial finger,
finite element modelling
