Effects of Area of Square and Circular Footwear Pads on the Friction Coefficient on the Floor

• Main Authors: TSAI, HUNG-KAI, 蔡閎凱
• Other Authors: LI, KAI-WAY
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85231228270214445257

碩士 === 中華大學 === 工業管理學系 === 104 === Slips & falls are the main problems of occupational injuries. How to reduce the risk of slips & falls is an important issue in occupational safety and health. Increase the coefficient of friction (COF) between footwear and floor is effective in preventing the occurrence of slips & falls. Theoretically, geometric design of the footwear that provides enough space to quickly discharge liquid covered between footwear and floor could accelerate the contact between footwear and floor and increases the COF. The literature has focused the study of floor friction were mostly in the discussing of footwear materials, the width and depth of tread groove. According to Moore`s squeeze film theory, the shape and area of footwear affect the speed of the contact between footwear and floor and therefore affects the COF. This study explored the effects of the square and circular shaped footwear with four different sizes on the COF on the steel, ceramic, and quarry tiles with the contaminations of water, detergent solution and oil. The results showed that shape and area of footwear sample affected the COF between footwear and floor (p<0.0001). On wet ceramic and quarry tiles, the difference of the square and the circular footwear was significant. On the wet and detergent solution covered tiles, large footwear sample has significant lower COF than those of the smaller ones. The measured COF on oily contaminated floor tiles were approximately zero. Regression models were established to describe the relationship between the COF and the shape and area of footwear sample under three contamination conditions.