Overstep Slips on Stairway Treads During Descent

摘要

A prototype tribometer, with a mechanical foot fitted with shoes, and that mimics the action of the leg and foot at ground contact to the moment of potential slip, was used to test the slip resistance of two stairway treads using four types of footwear, and at two ground reaction force angles. Based on slip distance, velocity and the location of the first metatarsal heads with respect to the nosing, it is concluded that there is greater overstep slip risk for shoes with arched outersoles than for shoes with continuous (non-arched) outersoles. It is also concluded that integrating slip resistive attributes near the horizontal tan-gency of the nosings might be beneficial, although possibly only marginally and that, in any case, it might be ineffective in offsetting the high slip velocities of feet as they slip off treads.