The goal of the project is to design, fabricate and field test a playground surface impact attenuation tester that is portable, easily operated by a single person and can be economically produced. The proposed device will function by being placed directly on the surface location to be measured rather than being dropped on the surface as is the case with current laboratory and field devices. The feasibility of the design as demonstrated in a previous Phase I study is based on an instrumented impactor driven against the surface by a mechanical spring system. The data will be digitized and processed in the unit to display the surface indicators, peak g and HIC results, for an equivalent headform drop test using the ASTM playing surface test method. The criteria for acceptable playing surfaces are still in flux and this is reflected in the proposed design which will allow the modification of the analysis algorithms and the use of updated transducers to upgrade the unit as the guidelines evolve. The device is not intended to replace laboratory test systems but the scaling and data analysis procedures provide conservative values for the surface indicators that are appropriate for field monitoring.
Almost all (92%) of the playground surfaces evaluated in a 1994 national survey of 443 playgrounds did not meet surface impact attenuation requirements. The proposed portable surface impact tester would be used by public school districts (15,000 nationwide): groups of schools or individual large schools, private schools, park departments and many other types of playground facilities for the evaluation and maintenance of installed surfaces.
