Investigation and Evaluation of the Safety Properties of Hardwood Athletic Floor System in China

Field testing of safety characteristic was conducted on fifteen hardwood athletic floor systems with different constructions according to the procedures defined in Chinese standard GB/T 20239-2006 and EN 14904:2006. Device called Mastrad Skid Tester S885 was used to measure the coefficient of sliding friction (COF) of the fifteen floors and devices called Artificial Athlete Berlin was used to test shock absorption (SA) and vertical deformation (VD) of those floors. The COF of the fifteen hardwood athletic floors is between 0.4 and 0.5. About 80 percent of average of VA was between 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm. About 50 percent of the mean of VD was between 35% and 50%. About 50 percent of that was between 50% and 60%. It is vital to add the requirement of uniformity of the safety properties of hardwood athletic floor systems in Chinese standard. The deviation of the friction and VD can effectively be used to discriminate the uniformity of a floor.