Surface Roughness Slip Resistance And Relationship To Floor Cleaning

Summary: Determination of slip resistance of flooring materials is of importance to both designers and specifiers when responding to client requirements, and to building owners, users and facility managers when buildings are commissioned and over the lifetime of the floor. Clearly, acceptable slip resistance of floorings is a significant safety requirement of any building with an industrial, or public service operation. Assessment can be made as a routine part of production, to ensure client satisfaction, or upon the floor in-service, to ensure the required slip resistance has been maintained during routine service life. Slip resistance is commonly measured in the UK using the TRRL pendulum tester but the use of surface roughness measurement to assess slip resistance is growing in popularity. This paper identifies a relationship between the surface roughness of flooring materials and the cleaning properties by presenting two case studies. The BRE studies examined in-service floor tiles that were retaining dirt, irrespective of the cleaning regime, or the traffic. The relationship between surface roughness and dirt retention enabled the identification, in one case, of areas where the cleaning regime was insufficient. Examination of the data produced from the two case studies suggests that the peak to valley distances of the sub-millimetre surface profile and the widths of the peak to valley elements are important parameters influencing dirt retention. These parameters can be measured using one of the instruments recommended in the Guidelines of the UK Slip Resistance Group (2000), although the measurement of the mean width peak to valley distances is not required when assessing slip resistance. Thus, in addition to providing information concerning slip resistance, the assessment of submillimetre surface profile characteristics may also be advantageous in quantifying cleaning properties, and provide valuable information both before installation and during service life