Tribological approach for the analysis of the pedestrain slipping accident II

The variations of the surface topographical parameters for the analysis of the pedestrian slip and fall accidents during the sliding friction between the specially prepared floor specimens and three working shoes were investigated. The profile ordinate data for each flooring specimen were obtained at 1.1 .mu.m intervals using a laser scanning confocal microscope system along to the direction of sliding. A number of surface roughness parameters, that is, the centre line average (c.l.a.) and root mean square (r.m.s.) roughness, maximum height (Rtm), maximum mean peak height (Rpm), maximum mean depth (Rvm), and average asperity slope were calculated using a computer program and compared with the dynamic friction results. The analysis showed that the surface parameters undergo marked variations during the sliding process, but the variations were statistically significant. It was found that amongst various surface parameters, the maximum depth (Rvm) and the average asperity slope of the asperities were the biggest variation during the sliding proceeding. This result confirms the previous study and may suggests a new approach to monitoring the flooring environments with their service as the effort to reduce the pedestrain slip accident.