Friction-Related Aspects of Human Pushing

Abstract

Human pushing capability affects performance in the areas of crowd and animal control, the security of locked doors and railings, the removal of tree stumps and entrenched vehicles, the maneuvering of furniture, and in athletic pursuits such as football or wrestling. Pushing capability is a function of both individual characteristics (e.g., muscular strength, body weight, and the distribution of that weight) and attributes of the pushing task itself (e.g., footwear/floor and torso/object friction). Mathematical relationships among these factors are developed. Using these relationships, the maximum push that can be generated without slip were calculated for the following two conditions: (1) LEAN only, with the torso about to slip down the pushed object and feet about to slip along the floor and (2) PUSH along the body contact line with the torso about to slip up the pushed object and the feet about to slip along the floor.