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Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P- Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology-2014-Forrester-213-20.pdf (2.11 MB)

Spatial and temporal analysis of surface hardness across a third-generation artificial turf pitch over a year

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posted on 2014-11-04, 15:23 authored by Steph ForresterSteph Forrester, Felix Tsui
Despite the potentially negative effects on play performance and safety, little is currently known about the spatial and temporal variability in the properties of artificial turf pitches. The primary purpose of this study was to quantify the spatial and temporal variations in surface hardness across a 5-year-old third-generation artificial turf pitch over full year cycle. The secondary purpose was to investigate the key variables that contributed to these variations in surface hardness using a correlation approach. Surface hardness (2.25 kg Clegg impact hammer, average of drops 2-5), ground temperature and infill depth were measured at 91 locations across the third-generation artificial turf pitch in 13-monthly test sessions from August 2011 to August 2012 inclusive. For each month, rainfall in the 24 h prior to testing and pitch usage statistics were also obtained. Shockpad thickness was obtained from measurements taken when the carpet was replaced in 2007. Spatial and temporal variations were assessed using robust statistical measures while Spearman correlation was used to assess the contributions of the secondary variables to surface hardness variability. The results indicated that spatial variation in surface hardness exceeded temporal variation; the former demonstrated a median absolute deviation of 12 6 1 G across the pitch in any test session while the median absolute deviation for the latter was only 4 6 2 G across the 13 test sessions. Spatial variation in surface hardness was moderately correlated with shockpad thickness and weakly correlated with infill depth (both negative). These results reinforce the importance of monitoring spatial and temporal variations in play performance variables for third-generation surfaces as well as providing support for the role of maintenance in minimising the spatial variation.

Funding

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK (grant number EP/I020411/1)

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology

Volume

228

Issue

3

Pages

213 - 220

Citation

FORRESTER, S.E. and TSUI, F., 2014. Spatial and temporal analysis of surface hardness across a third-generation artificial turf pitch over a year. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, 228 (3), pp. 213 - 220

Publisher

SAGE on behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Publication date

2014

Notes

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).

ISSN

1754-3371

eISSN

1754-338X

Language

  • en

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