The EN 14904 standard is available as a European standard and specifies the requirements for the surfaces of indoor facilities where various sports such as basketball, handball, volleyball and football are performed, as well as physical training and other sports activities. This standard is not possible only in indoor tennis halls.
The surfaces of sports fields react in some way when subjected to any dynamic load. In spite of the difficulty of the sport, the upper surface of the sport field is expected to be strong in the following respects:
- Deformation under load
- Impact absorption power
- Converting the energy of the pulse to its previous state
The ability of the surface to absorb impacts is an important safety feature in sports fields. The upper surfaces react differently if the temperature is too high or too low, or at the lower stress rate. For example, at low temperatures, surface hardness is more, and at high temperatures, it becomes more soft.
In order to have a safe sport activity, there must be sufficient grip between the shoes the athlete is wearing and the surface of the sports field. If the grip is low, the athlete may show a slip and fall. If the clutch is too much, an undesirable tension occurs on the joint and muscle ligaments of the athlete.
Similarly, tests and examinations of the surface of sports fields should be carried out in many aspects such as vertical ball behavior, rolling load resistance, abrasion resistance, fire reaction, formaldehyde emission, mirror reflection, reflective brightness, indentation strength, impact resistance and degree of smoothness. Different standards are set for each of these features.
It may be right to do outdoor sports but unfortunately it is not easy to find this opportunity in today's conditions and working tempo. For this reason, indoor sports areas are preferred. However, in order to prevent an injury or disability during sports, necessary tests and examinations of the sports fields should also be performed.
Sports field inspections are also carried out by authorized test and inspection organizations within the scope of environmental inspections. A few standards considered during these studies are:
- TS EN 14904 Surfaces for sports fields - Indoor surfaces for use in multiple sports - Technical features
- TS EN 12228 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of the joints of synthetic surfaces
- TS EN 14877 Surfaces for outdoor sports - Technical specifications
- TS EN 13672 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of abrasion resistance of non-filled synthetic peat
- TS EN 13745 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of brightness reflection
- TS EN 13746 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of dimensional changes due to the effect of variable water, frost and heat conditions
- TS EN 13864 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of tensile strength of synthetic yarns
- TS EN 14808 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of impact damping
- TS EN 14809 Surfaces for sports fields - Determination of vertical deformation
- TS EN 14837 Surfaces for outdoor sports - Determination of slip resistance
