The Design of Next Generation Personalised Safety Shoes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Safety footwear has undergone little technological advancement since its inception during the Second World War where boots with steel toecaps were used by the German army. Over 200 million pairs are sold worldwide every year and the market is growing.
Initially, this research will review literature pertaining to safety footwear, including their design and manufacture and associated legislation and test methods, potential materials for safety (with a focus on flexible materials that are potentially capable of satisfying legislative testing requirements) and aspects of research drivers such as end user experience, fit, comfort and biometric factors.
It is proposed that, when it comes to research gaps, there is a notable lack of academic research around safety footwear in general; finite element modelling is limited and the end user experience is more anecdotal than evidential. Whilst there is an abundance of potential materials that may possess suitable material properties that would likely withstand impact and compression testing, these have not yet been considered within the safety footwear environment. A preliminary objective is to conduct an end user survey with hypotheses considering comfort, durability and differences in experience between genders. Findings from the survey aim to substantiate the drivers of the research and address part of the research gap.
The research aim is to develop, test and evaluate flexible materials for application in safety footwear that can withstand the impact and compression tests specified in British Standard BS EN 12568:2010 and provide greater comfort for end users. Objectives include carrying out an appropriate literature critique, confirming that the problem of uncomfortable safety footwear exists, developing a range of analytical and empirical methods to simulate the impact and compression events for safety footwear and subsequently using the baseline testing to develop material property requirements for the toecap used in safety footwear. Further objectives include manufacture and test of prototypes and an assessment of the impact of the new toecaps on end user comfort.
Initially, this research will review literature pertaining to safety footwear, including their design and manufacture and associated legislation and test methods, potential materials for safety (with a focus on flexible materials that are potentially capable of satisfying legislative testing requirements) and aspects of research drivers such as end user experience, fit, comfort and biometric factors.
It is proposed that, when it comes to research gaps, there is a notable lack of academic research around safety footwear in general; finite element modelling is limited and the end user experience is more anecdotal than evidential. Whilst there is an abundance of potential materials that may possess suitable material properties that would likely withstand impact and compression testing, these have not yet been considered within the safety footwear environment. A preliminary objective is to conduct an end user survey with hypotheses considering comfort, durability and differences in experience between genders. Findings from the survey aim to substantiate the drivers of the research and address part of the research gap.
The research aim is to develop, test and evaluate flexible materials for application in safety footwear that can withstand the impact and compression tests specified in British Standard BS EN 12568:2010 and provide greater comfort for end users. Objectives include carrying out an appropriate literature critique, confirming that the problem of uncomfortable safety footwear exists, developing a range of analytical and empirical methods to simulate the impact and compression events for safety footwear and subsequently using the baseline testing to develop material property requirements for the toecap used in safety footwear. Further objectives include manufacture and test of prototypes and an assessment of the impact of the new toecaps on end user comfort.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Vimal Dhokia (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Debbie JANSON (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/R513155/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2023 | |||
| 2103868 | Studentship | EP/R513155/1 | 01/10/2018 | 31/12/2023 | Debbie JANSON |