Stress analysis in the structure of a tractor seat by using numerical simulations

Abstract

Accidents involving children during the operation of agricultural machinery in unusual situations (disregarding child labor) without the responsible authorization has increased around the world. For this reason, it is needed the development of new devices to reduce the accidents risk. Based on that, this work is aimed to perform static structural analysis on the tractor seat in order to understand the von Mises stress distribution and to indicate an appropriated place to install a safety device to reduce the risk of accidents, preventing children to start tractors and then to carry out some type of operation. In this case, the tractor will only be started if the load exerted by the operator’s weight on the seat is greater than the average weight of a child. For this, a unidirectional strain gage was installed in the place of the greatest stress of von Mises in the tractor seat in order to validate the simulation results. The experimental stress values results were compared with the stress values obtained in the simulation, generating a satisfactory average difference of 11.4% with a linear correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9997. This way, the simulations results in the tractor seat, when subjected to external loads, allowed understanding the stresses distribution in the structure and indicated an appropriated place for the installation of the safety device (region of the greatest stress in the seat) in order to avoid work accidents with children weighing under to 415.8 N.