Abstract
“No-shoes-floor” mean the floors that person takes off his shoes in the popular Japanese houses or elderly facilities, we define it in our research. Due to behavior (walking, sitting, lying, etc.) of person on no-shoes-floor, body regions that touch to surface of floors or motions at each body regions are more multifarious than western style living. The final goal of our research is the establishment of evaluation methods of floor deformation properties considering comfortableness human behavior. We focused on human walking and examined evaluation methods of comfortableness for walking as the first step of our research.
The final goal of our research is the establishment of evaluation methods of floor deformation properties considering comfortableness human behavior. We focused on human walking and examined evaluation methods of comfortableness for walking as the first step of our research.
At the First, we selected typical 26 floors that have variety of deformation properties that are defined by our research. Using these floors, sensory tests had been carried out about comfortableness during various motions on the non-footwear floors, and psychological scales had been constructed using the test results. Then, the following 2 results were found due to examination of mutual relationships of the scales.
1) From a viewpoint of the evaluation about the comfortableness, the motions on no-shoes-floor are classified into 2 types. One is walking which only sole is in contact the floor surface during, and the other is various motions except walking.
2) The feelings of comfortableness about the various motions except walking are alike. Then, if a performance value corresponding to the psychological scale about a motion is set, this can also evaluate the comfortableness during the others various motions except walking.
At the Next, we execute evaluation method of floor hardness and dynamic discrimination method those typical evaluation method for human comfortableness. However these previous methods are complicated. So we tried to define the evaluation method which is more simple and appropriate than the previous method. In addition, the new method is able to measure the more detailed data. We call it as “evaluation method of floor deformation properties” (for walking).
The evaluation method of floor deformation properties are constructed from the following 2 factors. These factors are measured by our developed machine that can reproduce loading condition of simulated walking action.
T’ : performance value intends floor hardness
D : performance value intends degree of decline of evaluation by titubation on floors
And, it was found that Y1～Y3 as the performance values calculated from compounding these 2 values are able to correspond to the psychological scales about the comfortableness for walking on the floors. Then, we presented the evaluation method for walking; the method is measuring Y1～Y3 by using device which can reproduce loading condition of simulated walking action, and applying to relationship diagram between the performance values and psychological scales.
The evaluation methods for the other actions will develop in next paper.
