Annual Congress of the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV)

EVALUATION OF WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION

(WBV) ON READY MIXED CONCRETE TRUCK DRIVERS.
Marcos Vinicius Santos and Maria Alzira de Araújo Nunes
Univeristy of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
email: 180161547@aluno.unb.br

This research aimed to characterize the exposure to whole-body vibration relative to the use of con-
crete mixer trucks operators. For this study, a total of fourteen drivers were accompanied. All the
drivers were located at a concrete batching plant within Brasília, Brazil. The vibration was measured
at the seat/driver interface according to methodologies imposed by the International Organizational
for Standardization (ISO) – 2631- Mechanical Vibration and Shock – Evaluation of Human Exposure
to Whole-Body Vibration. The measurements took place on a workday schedule. The vibration ex-
posure was measured by the frequency-weighted root-mean-square and the vibration dose value
(VDV). The drivers under study were exposed to vibration for an average of 3 hours and 55 minutes.
In total, fifty-six cargo trucks were distributed amongst the drivers according to the company's distri-
bution logistics. The analysis of each route for transport and return to the dosing plant, disregarding
routes that suffered delivery or return deviations requested by the clients, showed that the exposure
to vibration was higher during the cargo transport in 77.8% of the routes, while 22.2% of the routes
presented greater or similar vibration during the return to the plant. Pavement quality and exposure
time were the factors that most contributed to exposure. According to the comfort limits suggested
by ISO - 2631, 79% of the drivers under study are above the action level, which requires the adoption
of preventive measures, such as reducing the workload or avoiding uneven pavement.
Keywords: Whole-body vibration, Concrete mixer truck, Concrete batching plant.

1
1. Introduction
The Whole-Body Vibration (WBV) is present in many workplaces such as mining, the use of agricul-
tural machines, public transportation and construction. In the economic sector of construction, according
to the last census, from 2012 to 2018, in Brazil, 11.345 occupational accidents due to machinery and
equipment were recorded and 21.487 work absences due to hernia which is a characteristic of the expo-
sure of WBV [1, 2].
Regarding the WBV approach there are three times higher of lower back-related health problems in
people exposed to vibration for more than four hours daily, mainly professional drivers [3].
Within the various machines used in this economic sector, there is the concrete mixer truck, illustrated
by Fig. 1. A concrete mixer truck is a vehicle equipped with a device that transports and mixes concrete
while maintains its homogeneity by agitation [4].
The trucks are daily used at the concrete batching plants that perform transport logistics according to
the daily concrete production volume. Concrete batching plants are a set of facilities where receiving,
stocking, dosing and mixing operations of concrete component materials are received, stocked, dosed
and mixed [4], as illustrated by Fig. 2.

Figure 1: Concrete mixer truck Figure 2: Simplified concrete production process

This research aimed to characterize the exposure to whole-body vibration related to fourteen concrete
mixer trucks, within a concrete batching plant located in Brasilia, Brazil. Measurements were made dur-
ing each driver's workday in order to verify exposure levels and possible contributions to exposure due
to cargo transport.

2. Parameters according to ISO 2631-1

The WBV exposure should be evaluated using the weighted root-mean-square (r.m.s) acceleration
and the vibration dose value. The weighted r.m.s acceleration (Aw) may be estimated for translational
vibration (m/𝑠 2 ) and rotational vibration (rad/𝑠 2 ). This was easily extrapolated for an 8-hour daily value
(A(8)). This parameter is recommended for continuous exposures and it is known as a basic evaluation
method. The Aw and A(8) must be calculated as indicated in the Eq. (1), in which aw(t) is the weighted
acceleration as a function of time in m/𝑠 2 or rad/𝑠 2 , T is the duration of the measurement in seconds or
average time, and T0 refers to 8 hours or 480 minutes.
1
1 𝑇 2 𝑇
𝐴𝑤 = [ ∫0 𝑎𝑤 (𝑡)𝑑𝑡]2 ; 𝐴 (8) = 𝐴 𝑤 √ 𝑇 (1)
𝑇 0

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
 The crest factor, which was the modulus of the ratio of the maximum instantaneous peak value of the
frequency-weighted acceleration signal to its weighted r.m.s. acceleration. The peak value shall be de-
termined over the duration of the measurement. This value is a unitless ratio.
As outlined in [5], for vibration with crest factors below or equal to 9, the basic evaluation method
(Aw) is normally sufficient. However, when crest factors are greater than 9, the vibration data may pre-
sent transient shocks and the average weighted vibration should be interpreted with caution. In these
cases, the vibration dose value (VDV) can be used to further characterize the vibration exposure.
The vibration dose value (VDV) is more sensitive to peaks than the basic evaluation method due to
using the fourth power instead of the second power of the acceleration time history as the basis for aver-
aging. The VDV and VDV(8) are obtained by the Eq. (2):
1 1
𝑇 4 𝑇 4
𝑉𝐷𝑉 = [∫0 𝑎𝑤 (𝑡)𝑑𝑡]4 ; 𝑉𝐷𝑉(8) = 𝑉𝐷𝑉 [𝑇 ] (2)
0

The vibration was evaluated based on the vector sum Aw and VDV (considering the multiplying factors
kx=1.4; ky=1.4 and kz=1.0) as calculated in Eqs. (3) and (4).
1
𝐴𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑚 = [(1.4𝑥𝐴𝑤𝑥 )2 + (1.4𝑥𝐴𝑤𝑦 )2 + (1.0𝑥𝐴𝑤𝑧 )2 ]2 (3)
1
𝑉𝐷𝑉𝑠𝑢𝑚 = [(1.4x𝑉𝐷𝑉𝑥 )4 + (1.4x𝑉𝐷𝑉𝑦 )4 + (1.0x𝑉𝐷𝑉𝑧 )4 ]4 (4)

The Eqs. (1) to (4) were used in this work to estimate the WBV exposure in concrete mixer truck
drivers.

3. Methodology
The main goal of this study is to measure and analyze as accurately as possible the WBV exposure of
a group of concrete mixer truck drivers who drive on different roads located in the central region of
Brazil. As a secondary goal, the difference between the cargos carried was analyzed in order to obtain
some correlation with the WBV exposure.

3.1 Trucks and routes

The trucks meet the delivery logistics proposed by the company, which deliver up to a radius of 50km
from the dosing plant, have random daily routes and different travel times. The truck model was used for
this research according to the company's availability. Information about the truck model as shown in
Table 1.

Table 1: Truck model under study

Model Ford Cargo 2629 CN 8x4
Number of trucks 14
Load Capacity 10m³
Made in 2012

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
3
 Travel duration may vary depending on the distance from the job site to the dosing plant, traffic
conditions and unloading time. Drivers are not exposed to vibration the whole time. Although drivers
should assist the concrete discharge once they arrive at the destination, they are not exposed to WBV
during this process. Sometimes truck unloading does not occur instantaneously, drivers have the choice
of waiting for unloading outside the truck.

3.2 Work-phase analysis

The evaluation consisted of a questionnaire conducted with the drivers and through a collection of
reports about their work conditions. Each driver accompanied for the entire workday to obtain an accurate
representation of the levels of exposure for the transport of materials [6].
For this study, the routes related to the two working conditions of the drivers were evaluated:

• Condition one - Cargo transportation: Trucks move from the batching plant to the designated
location. During the route, the transported concrete is subjected to the agitation of 2 to 4 rpm,
which avoids the segregation of materials. During transport, for safety reasons, the trucks
adopt a top speed of 60km/h.
• Condition two - Return to the plant: After the concrete unloading, the trucks return to the
concrete batching plant to perform a new load. The globe of the truck is still kept in agitation
at a speed of 2 rpm. During the return to the dosing plant, the trucks can arrive at a speed of
up to 70 km/h.

Each driver trip will be represented as an exposure component that ensures a better analysis of WBV
exposure [7].

3.3 Subjects
This study was designed to record WBV measurements from 14 subjects, all males. As shown in
Table 2, there is information about age, weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI), of the sample, collected
by the questionnaire.
Table 2: Characteristics of subjects under study
Driver Age Weight (Kg) Height (m) BMI (Kg/𝑚2 )
1 33 78.0 1.67 27.97
2 34 82.0 1.66 29.76
3 32 96.6 1.78 30.49
4 35 87.0 1.78 27.46
5 47 76.4 1.76 24.66
6 62 95.1 1.64 35.36
7 37 109.5 1.82 33.06
8 38 103.5 1.73 34.58
9 37 69.6 1.79 21.72
10 52 78.7 1.67 28.22
11 32 74.3 1.73 24.83
12 34 101.1 1.73 33.75
13 63 103.2 1.75 33.70
14 42 88.5 1.82 26.72
Mean(±SD) 41(±11) 89(±13) 1.74(±0.06) 29(±4)

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
 The drivers were selected according to the availability of the company. All the study procedures were
approved by the University of Brasília – CEP-FS/UnB Committee and all subjects accept to participate
in this study.

3.4 Instrumentation
The equipment to be used for measuring the WBV exposure in drivers is a portable vibration analyzer
composed of a triaxial accelerometer type seat pad, as shown in Fig. 3 (HVM100 model from Larson
Davis). All measurements were made by the standard for the evaluation of human exposure to whole-
body vibration [4], as shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 3: Instrumentation used. Figure 4: Coupling triaxial accelerometer.

Adapted by Santos (2019). Adapted by Santos (2019).

The driver sits in his seat as usual without changing his work routine and the equipment records ac-
celerations from the seat during the journey. The instantaneous acceleration weights are performed on
all axis (x, y and z) and are based on the definitions established [5].

4. Results and Analyses

The results obtained were divided into two segments. At first, the results from the applied question-
naire will be presented. The questionnaire had the function to better characterize the sample of drivers
under study. In sequence, the vibration exposure results and analyses will be presented for the fourteen
drivers.

4.1 Questionnaire results

All drivers report little discomfort when subjected to shaky journeys, however, 85.7% of respondents
say they are satisfied with their work and 14.3% say they are very satisfied with their service.
Still regarding the subjectivity of each driver, 14.3% judge the pavement quality as good, 78.6% as
fair and 7.1% as poor. Truck maintenance conditions from the driver’s point of view were also consid-
ered; 42.8% consider trucks to be in good maintenance condition and 57.2% consider maintenance con-
ditions to be fair.

4.2 WBV exposure

All drivers made a total of 56 concrete deliveries, resulting in an average of four deliveries for each
driver. If there is a significant divergence between the acceleration values obtained for each axis, the
resulting acceleration will be represented by the acceleration value in the dominant axis [4].

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
5
 However, the normative does not specify how significant this divergence should be, therefore, the
researcher has the power of the decision of the aspect. For this study, the resulting acceleration was
obtained by root mean square of the three orthogonal axis. According to the proposed methodology, the
resulting acceleration and characteristics of cargo transportation by each driver are presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary of results obtained

VDVsum Exposure Daily route Cargo Trans-
Drivers Awsum (m/s²)
(m/s1,75) Time (min) (Km) port (m³)
1 0.73 10.43 321.6 169.1 44.0
2 1.01 16.72 264.8 163.0 25.0
3 0.80 11.64 156.3 112.3 24.0
4 0.73 10.82 272.5 187.7 53.0
5 0.87 17.22 168.1 108.3 25.0
6 0.84 16.01 359.8 182.2 42.0
7 0.77 14.11 224.8 142.0 38.0
8 0.73 10.77 206.5 146.0 33.0
9 0.89 13.91 222.2 147.2 34.0
10 0.86 12.88 202.9 108.1 29.5
11 0.81 13.70 280.6 181.6 33.5
12 0.83 14.54 297.2 178.4 42.0
13 0.76 15.74 251.4 147.8 28.5
14 0.78 11.47 154.9 87.1 28.0

The first column identifies who driver under study as the same as Table 2. The second and third
columns present the resulting accelerations for Aw and VDV for the three orthogonal axis. Despite the
basic evaluation method (Aw) were sufficient, the VDV method was also calculated in additional. The
fourth column refers to the rider’s effective exposure time, that is, the entire time the driver was in contact
with the vibration emitted by the truck. The fifth column shows the daily distance performed by the driver
during this study and the last column shows the total volume of concrete transported on the follow-up
day for each truck.
The comfort is subjective to each driver and depends on factors such as heat and noise exposure.
Approximate acceleration values are indicated that may interfere driver’s perception [5], indicated in
Fig. 5 by the green (0.5 m/s²) and red (0.8 m/s²) lines. The individual accelerations A(8) for a workday
of each driver is represented by the blue line.

0,85
0,8
0,75
A(8) (m/s²)

0,7
0,65 A(8)
0,6 Fairly Uncomfortable
0,55
0,5 Uncomfortable
0,45
0,4 Average A(8)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Drivers

Figure 5: Comfort limits for A(8) values

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
 The average acceleration obtained for all the drivers, indicated by the purple line in Fig. 5, was 0.56
± 0.09 m/s². The discrepancies found about the average may be justified by the quality of the pavement,
the duration of the different routes, vehicle maintenance conditions, anthropometric characteristics and
different driving postures [7, 8, 9, 10].
Accelerations for drivers 2 and 6 got higher discrepancies above the average obtained, 30% and 27%
respectively. The drivers in question presented routes with deteriorating pavements and dirt roads, which
may contribute to exposure to WBV [10, 11, 12, 13], besides presenting the sixth and second-longest
distance traveled and the sixth and first longest exposure time, respectively, according to Table 3.
The Figure 6 shown the Awsum values for each route taken by all drivers. Only the concrete batching
plant - client, which loaded truck, and client – concrete batching plant, which empty trucks, were con-
sidered. Routes that by chance suffered delivery or return deviations requested by the clients were not
considered.

1,2
1,1
1
AwSum(m/s²)

0,9
0,8
Load
0,7
Unload
0,6
0,5
0,4
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45
Driver's routes

Figure 6: Load and unload trucks comparison

In general, 78% of cases showed the accelerations obtained for loaded vehicles were higher than the
accelerations obtained for empty vehicles. The average acceleration values obtained for loaded and
empty vehicles were 0.84 ± 0.11 m/s² and 0.74 ± 0.08 m/s², respectively.
Consideration should be given to the difference in speed for both cases, when loaded they travel at a
maximum speed of 60km/h and when empty at a maximum speed of 70km/h. The increase in traffic
speed is directly proportional to the contribution to WBV exposure [14].

5. Conclusion
Given the parameters exposed in this research, the exposure to WBV in 79% of cases is above the
limits of “Fairly Uncomfortable” stipulated by the standard, requiring the adoption of preventive
measures such as speed reduction in routes that showed trepidation, waiting for the unloading of the truck
outside the vehicle without exposure to vibration or even reducing the daily workload. In none of the
cases under study were the accelerations A(8) higher than the “Uncomfortable” limits stipulated.
Evaluation of concrete transport contributed to exposure in 78% of cases, however, due to the variety
of characteristics that were beyond the control of the authors, such as; concrete delivery destinations,

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020
7
absence of greater variations in transported cargo volume and maximum speed adopted for the loaded
and empty vehicle may interfere with the accuracy of the results obtained.
In the future, studies with driver, truck, route, and different variations in the volume of concrete trans-
ported will be performed to obtain a plurality of situations that may better characterize the possible con-
tribution to WBV.

6. Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by CAPES and FAP-DF and took place thanks to the concrete
batching plant company partnership, which required not to be identified.

REFERENCES
1 MPT (2019). Ministério Público do Trabalho - Observatório de Saúde e Segurança do Trabalho. [Online.] available:
https://smartlabbr.org/sst/localidade/0?dimensao=frequenciaAfastamentos
2 Mandal, B. B. and Mansfield N. J. Contribution of individual components of a job cycle on overall severity of whole-
body vibration exposure: a study in Indian mines. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 22 (1),
142-151, (2016).
3 Kelsey, J. L. An Epidemiological Study of Acute Herniated Lumbar Intervertebral Discs. Rheumatology and Rehabili-
tation, 14, 144-159, (1975).
4 ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS. NBR 12655: Concreto de Cimento Portland – Preparo, con-
trole e recebimento. Rio de Janeiro, 2006.
5 ISO, International Organization for Standardization. ISO – 2631 – Mechanical Vibration and Shock – Evaluation of
Human Exposure to Whole-body Vibration. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997.
6 Jamalizadeh, Z., Variani, A., Ahmadi, S., Asivandzadeh, E. Association of Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Driving
Behaviors. Journal of Human Environment and Health Promotion, 4 (3), 111-115, (2018).
7 Lynas, D. e Burgess-Limerick, R. B. Whole-Body Vibration Associated with Dozer Operation at an Australian Surface
Coal Mine. In Proceedings of Annals of Work Exposures and Health. Queensland, Australia, 2019.
8 Tamrin, S. B. M., Yokoyama, K., Aziz, N., Maeda, S. Association of Risk Factors with Musculoskeletal Disorders
among Male Commercial Bus Drivers in Malaysia. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Indus-
tries, 24 (4), 369-385, (2014).
9 Blood, R. P., Yost, M. G., Camp, J. E., Ching, R. P. Whole-body Vibration Exposure Intervention among Professional
Bus and Truck Drivers: A Laboratory Evaluation of Seat-suspension Designs. Journal of Occupational and Environ-
mental Hygiene, 12 (6), 351-362, (2015).
10 Santos, M. V. e Nunes, M. A. A. 2019. The Effect of Components in a Work Day on Whole-Body Vibration Exposure:
The Study of a School Bus Driver. Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering. Uber-
lândia, Brasil. 2019.
11 Zanol, E. J. Avaliação dos Níveis de Vibração de Corpo Inteiro Sofridos por Motoristas de Ônibus Urbanos em Dife-
rentes Tipos de Pista. 2014. 108 f. Master of Science Thesis, Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering – Universi-
dade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, 2014.
12 Nunes, M. A. A. e Silva, R. C., 2015. Whole Body Vibration Measurements in Intercity Bus Drivers: A Comparison
Among of Different Roads of Central Region of Brazil. In Proceedings of the 22th International Congress on Sound
and Vibration. Florence, Italy.
13 Vallone, M., Bono, F., Quendler, E., Febo, P., Catania, P. Risk exposure to vibration and noise in the use of agricultural
track-laying tractors. In Proceedings of Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine. Palermo, Itália. 2016.
14 Picoral Filho, J. G., Neto, M. F., Quintas, J. P. R., Gomes, H. M. Case study on vibration health risk and comfort levels
in loading crane trucks. The International Journal Health Planning and Management, 34, 1448-1463, (2019).

ICSV27, Annual Congress of International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), Prague, 12-16 July 2020