Experimental Evaluation of Sports Surfaces by Two-dimensional Impact Testing Using Spike Pins

Abstract

Shock attenuation property of sports surfaces is especially important not only for the athlete’s performance but also for injury prevention. To evaluate the properties of the sports surfaces, some sport governing bodies often adopt friction tests and shock attenuation tests to determine the horizontal and vertical characteristics, respectively. Although the diagonal impacts are often observed in athletic sports, shock attenuation test treats only the vertical impact test. Therefore, we developed a two-dimensional impact test device for examining the two-dimensional cushioning characteristics of sports surfaces in previous studies. To produce a simultaneous two-dimensional force against a test specimen, we incorporated a parallelogram linkage in the measuring system. In this study, we conducted impact tests using spike pins for long-distance running competitions, assuming the use of actual sports surfaces, and verified their validity in surface deformations by using a high-speed camera.