Assessment of the results of the pendulum friction tester (EN 14231) for natural building stones used as floor-coverings


Karaca Z., Gurcan S., Gokce M. V., Sivrikaya O.

CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS, cilt.47, ss.1182-1187, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 47
  • Basım Tarihi: 2013
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.06.011
  • Dergi Adı: CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1182-1187
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Pendulum, Slipperiness, Slip meter, EN 14231, Natural stone, SLIP, SLIPPERINESS, RESISTANCE, ROUGHNESS, DEVICES
  • Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

The main scope and parameter in choosing stone materials for floorings are unquestionably safety and slip resistance. The standard "EN 14231" is one of those developed for natural stones. The device used for the tests of this standard, "the pendulum coefficient friction tester", determines the slip resistance value of floorings in angle. Standards and their testers have constantly being developed. When this point of view is considered, EN 14231 has not yet been criticized. In this study, EN 14231 and the results obtained by the pendulum tester were for the first time analysed in terms of characteristics expected from a standard. For experimental studies, marble, limestone, travertine and granite samples currently in use as natural building materials were used. For each type of stone, four well-known and widely used stones that had surface roughness less than 1 mm were chosen. In this respect, 384 pendulum tests were conducted on 192 samples and more than 2200 angles were read from F scale. Depending on these readings, the dry slip resistance value-wet slip resistance value (DSRV-WSRV) relationships of marbles, limestone, travertine, and granites were investigated. Except travertine, DSRV-surface roughness and WSRV- surface roughness relationships of the samples were investigated. In addition, DSRV- cavity surface area and WSRV- cavity surface area relationships of travertine samples were investigated. After the evaluation of the test results, it was observed that, in general, higher correlations were obtained from wet samples compared to dry ones. The highest correlations were obtained from wet limestone samples. On the other hand, the lowest correlations were determined on the marble samples. Besides, petrographic characteristics and the physical characteristics of the stones such as, surface roughness and surface cavities were not recorded to have had any determinative effects on the results of the pendulum tester. According to the data obtained in this study, EN 14231 and the pendulum tester were seen to have fallen short in distinguishing both different types of natural stones and different groups of the same type of stone. For this reason, new researches should be made on EN 14231 and the pendulum tester device and both should be developed further. In the light of these results, EN 14231 was concluded to have been unsatisfying in terms of the characteristics expected from a standard and its applicability for slip resistance tests of stone materials to be used in floorings. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.