The paper describes a basic approach for the establishment of representative test persons when performing accommodation analyses and wanting to simultaneously consider normal variation in three variables. The main application is for defining a number of different manikins when performing ergonomics simulations for boundary case based accommodation analyses using digital human modelling tools. The method is also applicable when wanting to select representative people to be involved in user trials or to get direct design data. One objective is that the proposed method shall support inclusive design in that it is easy to adopt by non-experts in multivariate accommodation analyses, and accordingly reduce the amount of unsuitable univariate accommodation analyses. The paper introduces the reader to the area of interest, making links to previous research and current problems. The approach for the development of the basic method is explained. The confidence ellipse method is used for defining appropriate boundary manikins according to three selected key variables and desired accommodation level. The paper includes two examples that illustrate the method and compare the method to an alternative method.
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