Material Selection for an Adjustable Portable Grab Handle (APoGH) Device through Analytical Hierarchy Process

Commuting has become routine for a significant number of individuals as they traverse the distance between their residences and workplaces daily. In bustling cities and urban areas, a lot of commuters prefer to take train vehicles because of the time efficiency, and cost-effectiveness associated with them. In the Philippines, 70% of passengers in Metro Manila rely on public transport, and the total number of commuter train passengers in the year 2021 amounted to 103 million. A need for adjustable and portable grab handles has been in demand because sudden brakes or minor vehicle collisions causing a small impact on railway vehicles can cause an unscaled intensity of injuries. Hence, an adjustable portable grab handle (APoGH) device was aimed to be designed and developed that will allow incapable commuters to hold on to a horizontal handrail while riding in a train vehicle. For the material selection, this study used Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Both mechanical properties and manufacturing considerations were included in the procedure, and the results showed that polycarbonate (PC) ranked first, suggesting PC is the most suitable material to be used in manufacturing the APoGH device. Finite element analysis was also performed, and the simulation results showed that PEEK outperformed other materials in terms of factor of safety (FOS), maximum stress and strain, and maximum reaction force. Nevertheless, polycarbonate (PC) is a more realistic and suitable material that still meets the mechanical property requirements and is economical at the same time.