TY - CHAP
T1 - Advances in Design and Materials for Indoor Sports Surfaces
AU - Walker, Alexander
AU - Subic, Aleksandar
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Natural, synthetic and combinations of natural and synthetic materials are used widely in contemporary sports surfaces which have been designed to encourage elastic deformation under load, in order to increase athletic performance and at the same time reduce the risk of injury. In response to this need, manufacturers have developed a wide variety of indoor sports flooring systems types, which are generally separated into two major categories, area-elastic sports surfaces and point-elastic sports surfaces. Area elastic sport surface structures attenuate energy by allowing deformation over a comparatively large area, where as point elastic sport surface structures deform in response to applied forces over a relatively small area, in close proximity to the point of impact. Sports surfaces can therefore be extremely complicated arrangements of materials, which contribute to a surface's complex behaviour. The materials used in each of these surface categories, attenuate the energy applied to a surface by an athlete, in order to reduce the energy returned to the athlete. Viscoelastic materials are therefore used as synthetic shock absorbers, in order to reduce the amplitude and increase the duration of an applied shock. To understand the cushioning properties of these materials, it is necessary to consider the structural aspects of the various material combinations. It is the aim of this chapter to discuss the types of sports surface materials used, the ways in which the materials are configured and the performance standards which have been applied, in order to evaluate athletic performance and reduce the risk of injury to an athlete.
AB - Natural, synthetic and combinations of natural and synthetic materials are used widely in contemporary sports surfaces which have been designed to encourage elastic deformation under load, in order to increase athletic performance and at the same time reduce the risk of injury. In response to this need, manufacturers have developed a wide variety of indoor sports flooring systems types, which are generally separated into two major categories, area-elastic sports surfaces and point-elastic sports surfaces. Area elastic sport surface structures attenuate energy by allowing deformation over a comparatively large area, where as point elastic sport surface structures deform in response to applied forces over a relatively small area, in close proximity to the point of impact. Sports surfaces can therefore be extremely complicated arrangements of materials, which contribute to a surface's complex behaviour. The materials used in each of these surface categories, attenuate the energy applied to a surface by an athlete, in order to reduce the energy returned to the athlete. Viscoelastic materials are therefore used as synthetic shock absorbers, in order to reduce the amplitude and increase the duration of an applied shock. To understand the cushioning properties of these materials, it is necessary to consider the structural aspects of the various material combinations. It is the aim of this chapter to discuss the types of sports surface materials used, the ways in which the materials are configured and the performance standards which have been applied, in order to evaluate athletic performance and reduce the risk of injury to an athlete.
KW - Biomechanical
KW - Environmental
KW - Materials
KW - Performance
KW - Safety
KW - Sports surface
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873027225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.633.47
DO - 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.633.47
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9783037855850
T3 - Advanced Materials Research
SP - 47
EP - 61
BT - Advances in Engineering Materials, Product and Systems Design
PB - Trans Tech Publications
ER -