........................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. xii Literature Review: A review of sports turf research techniques related to playability and safety standards ........................................................................................................................... 1 Sports turf and sports fields .............................................................................................. 1 History............................................................................................................................... 2 Sports turf playability and wear ........................................................................................ 4 Quantifying sports turf playability and wear .................................................................... 4 Wear sources ..................................................................................................................... 7 Sporting wear simulation .................................................................................................. 9 Turf research measurements ........................................................................................... 11 Specific research techniques to sports turf ...................................................................... 12 Safety of sports fields...................................................................................................... 19 Injury assessment in sports turf ....................................................................................... 23 Knowledge gaps .............................................................................................................. 26 Figures............................................................................................................................. 31