Citation

Li KW, Chen CJ. Appl. Ergon. 2004; 35(6): 499-507.

Affiliation

Department of Industrial Management, Chung-Hua University, Hsin-Chu 300, Taiwan. kai@chu.edu.tw

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apergo.2004.06.010

PMID

15374757

Abstract

Tread groove design is very common in footwear. However, coefficient of friction (COF) measurements between the footwear material and floor using a slipmeter were commonly performed using flat footwear pads. Such measurements might underestimate the actual slip resistance of the footwear pad. This research investigates the effects of the tread groove width on the measured COF using four footwear materials, three floors, and four liquid-contamination conditions using a Brungraber Mark II slipmeter. The analysis of variance results indicated that the footwear material, floor, contamination conditions, and groove width were all significant (p < 0.0001) factors affecting the measured COF. The hypothesis that wider tread grooves result in higher COF values was true with some exceptions especially on oil contaminated floors. A regression model, with an R2 of 0.91, was established to describe and predict the relationship between the COF and the tread groove width under footwear material/floor/contamination conditions.

Language: en