Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Workers exposed to hand-transmitted vibration are at excessive risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders, affecting the muscles, bones, cartilage, joints, and ligaments. To minimize or prevent these risks, appropriate work design is needed to reduce vibration and provide sufficient rest periods to avoid muscle fatigue. While previous research has investigated the effects of various parameters on vibration levels and muscle fatigue, there is a notable gap in studies on work design for safe practices on vibration emission and rest effect on muscle fatigue recovery during drilling operations. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of four drilling parameters – feed force (40 and 80 N), duration (5 and 10 minutes), drill bit diameter (6 and 10 mm), and material hardness (27 and 104.8 HV) – on muscle recovery and vibration emission and build a mathematical model based on these parameters. The impact of these drilling parameters was studied on the muscle fatigue recovery time (MFRT), vibration acceleration level (VAL), and Borg scale rating. The experimental design involved a randomized complete block design with three replications across 16 treatment combinations.

The results show that the feed force (p=

A simplified mathematical model was developed to predict the MFRT and VAL using the drilling parameters. The ANOVA show no significant difference between the actual and model-generated results for MFRT (p=0.4453) and VAL (p=0.9305). This study may be used for work design during drilling operations to reduce vibration emission and ensure muscle fatigue recovery.

Date

11-1-2024

Committee Chair

Aghazadeh, Fereydoun

Available for download on Saturday, November 01, 2025

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