The stability of natural Rugby Union pitches continues to be a recurring problem at all levels of the game. The effects of poor
turf stability are seen when the pitch surface shears under player loading, creating divots and an uneven surface. However,
perhaps surprisingly, there is no objective quantitative mechanical test method for assessing the stability of the natural turf, with
regard to shear resistance. This paper details initial work undertaken to assess the effectiveness of current shear testing apparatus
in predicting stability for Rugby Union. It has been suggested there are two failure areas in pitch constructions: One on the
surface and one deeper in the soil. The results show variability in natural turf constructions, and that current shear test methods
are less effective in sandy soils. Penetration readings were relatable to hardness, however shear stability testing requires
development.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Published in
Asia-Pacific Congress on Sports Technology
Citation
ANDERSON, F.D. et al., 2015. Investigating shear stability of rugby union natural turf pitches. Procedia Engineering, 112, pp. 273–278.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publication date
2015
Notes
This is an open access article published by Elsevier under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Presented at 'The Impact of Technology on Sport VI' 7th Asia-Pacific Congress on Sports Technology, APCST2015.