Athletic field testing tools ground reaction force comparison

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024)

Material tests assessing the shock-attenuation properties of athletic surfaces have the advantage of being highly reliable, and if performed correctly, evaluating the various properties of each material tested of the surface sample. Turfgrass testing devices such as the Clegg Impact Soil Tester (CIST), United States Golf Assocation (USGA) TruFirm firmness meter, American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) F355-E, and ASTM F355 Apparatus A (F355-A) are all used to measure surface properties on a wide variety of turfgrass types used for sporting events. Of the testing devices listed only the F355-E has been correlated to measure the risk of human injury caused by impacts to the turfgrass surface. All testing devices use different weighted missiles of various drop heights to collect their measurements. These devices can give the information needed to quickly evaluate a playing surface prior to an athletic event. While testing devices are used to estimate the impact of the surface on an athlete, no research study has been conducted to show how these testing devices compare to forces a human produces on a on a force plate. The objective of this study was to compare the different ground reaction forces (GRF) of each testing device to a human comparison on the same surface.