Design Optimization of Airline Seats

This paper investigates the opportunity to optimize the parameters of an airline seat for maximum comfort within the confined space available in coach class. A computational model is subjected to a systematic variation of its parameters leading to identification of optimal movement patterns between the seat pan and backrest in terms of discomfort from muscle fatigue and shear forces.

The paper concludes that such patterns exist but other factors may have to be included before the results are brought to practical use in airline seat design.