Logo

Playground@Landscape

YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS

Slide 0
Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 6
Slide 7
Slide 8
08.08.2012 - Ausgabe: 4/2012

Compliance testing of synthetic turf pitches

Dipl.-Phys. Bernd Härting, Institut für Sportbodentechnik Leipzig (IST)

Photo

Compliance testing of synthetic turf pitches
Dipl.-Phys. Bernd Härting, Institut für Sportbodentechnik Leipzig (IST)
Until October 2011, the standard DIN V 18035-7:2002-06 was the sole technical reference for manufacture of synthetic turf pitches in Germany. The DIN authorities have now withdrawn this standard and replaced it with DIN SPEC (pre-standard) 18035-7:2011 Sports grounds – Part 7: Synthetic turf areas, which is not a standard in the sense of DIN standard specifications.

The valid DIN standard for testing of synthetic turf areas in Germany is DIN EN 15330-1:2008-01 Surfaces for sports areas – Synthetic turf and needle-punched surfaces primarily designed for outdoor use – Part 1: Specification for synthetic turf.

As in DIN V 18035-7, in DIN SPEC 18035-7 it is also differed between suitability tests, quality control and testing.

Under point 6.1.4 Compliance testing it states:
"Tests are requested by the ordering party. The scope and minimum number of tests for each layer or the synthetic turf system is determined in the individual segments."

In DIN SPEC 18035-7 however, no tests are foreseen for the finished synthetic turf pitch and no special requirements are given for important user parameters such as shock absorption, ball rebound, ball rolling behaviour, etc. With this unusual provision that a standard does not apply to the finished product, but only to laboratory samples of the building material used, general contractors have been left with no way of evaluating the performance of a supplier. Agreement to this ruling by the consumer representatives in the work committee is incomprehensible.

In the commentary to the VOB (German construction contract procedures), Section C: General technical specifications in construction contracts – Landscape work, the following statement is made concerning compliance testing:

"Careful and comprehensive carrying out of compliance testing is an explicit obligation for the general contractor within the framework of his construction supervision. Only with the help of the compliance tests can a proper evaluation of the contractually agreed performance of the supplier be ensured and, therefore, prerequisites for flawless approval be created. If existing faults are not recognised before or during acceptance procedures due to a lack of or incomplete compliance tests, the burden of proof lies completely with the general contractor for faults which only become visible after acceptance."

And further:

"All compliance tests also include, as far as necessary,
- taking of samples
- packaging of samples for transport
- transport of samples from the place they were taken to the testing site
- carrying out testing (on samples at the testing site, with building site tests, on the building site)."


For testing of finished surfaces, therefore, procedure as per Appendix A "On-site testing" of DIN EN 15330-1:2008-01 is recommended for tendering offers. This foresees the following field tests for football, hockey and combined hockey and football pitches carried out at the five determined testing locations:

Ball rebound (with a hockey and/or football)
Ball rolling behaviour (with a hockey and/or football),
Shock absorption,
Vertical deformation,
Rotational resistance and
Water permeability

According to information from the DIN authorities, application of DIN EN 15330-1 and DIN SPEC 18035-7 for field tests do not rival but complement each other without having the same status.

In the DIN SPEC, testing of the strength of the elastic layers (elastic supporting layer) is not sufficiently defined. The tests of tensile and transverse tensile strength have been omitted and replaced by determination of the torsion strength which, according to tests carried out by the technical college of Osnabrück, are critical (see sb 02/2012, pages 52 and 53). For this reason it is urgently recommended to continue to request determination of transverse tensile strength on samples taken with a specified value of at least 0.1 N/mm2.
 

Photo: deltecmetaal

Mehr zum Thema Sports & Leisure Facilities

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Meeting the challenges – artificial turf pitches of the future

Finding the right type of sports surfacing is a frequent subject of discussion. In the case of football pitches, the only question in recent years has been whether to use natural turf or synthetic turf. Often, the latter option...

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Microplastics on artificial turf pitches – EU Commission decides on regulatory measures

More than four years after the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published its proposal to restrict microplastic emissions, the EU Commission proposed in a committee ...

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Physical activity in the context of demographic change - sports facilities for older adults

It will hardly have escaped anyone's notice that the age structure of our society has changed considerably in recent decades. Or to put it in a nutshell: the average age is constantly rising. The underlying sociological reasons will not be ...

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Streetball and basketball – outdoor recreational sports classics

Compared to many other sports, basketball is still relatively new. Invented in the United States in 1891 by an educator named James Naismith, this sport was intended to be an alternative to other ball sports that require physical contact between players. Today, basketball is ...

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Sport in the city – why providing more opportunities for physical activity will also benefit society as a whole

For many people, sport and exercise are part of their everyday lives and key to a long and healthy life. However, many others tend to be sedentary, and the level of daily physical activity among children is also steadily decreasing. It is the constant state of change our world is in, especially technical progress, that is the cause of this problem. Yet this process is ...

image

Sports & Leisure Facilities

Inclusive sports and inclusive sports facilities – still a long way to go

Inclusion and inclusive infrastructure design are still very topical issues. On the one hand, this is very positive and shows that people are aware of the issue and also want to promote it. On the other hand, however, it also shows that we are not making as much progress as we would like to and that there are still clear deficits.