Wood Frames

Each individual field has a 15 feet by 30 feet wood frame around it. There is over 10,650 board feet of lumber, 6,200 wood screws, and 600 bags of Quikrete which make up the frames around these plots. There were 1056 post holes dug for posts to support the frames.

Frames were made on days when it was too wet to work with the soil.

Frames were installed in groups of ten.

Digging Individual Testing Plots

Each individual plot had to be dug to different depths depending on the rootzone. The synthetic rootzones were only 6 inches deep while the USGA was 18 inches deep. The native soil plots were 12 inches deep.

Each plot also had to have a collection well dug with it.

Ten plots were dug at a time and the soil was hauled away for fill at the other end of the C.A.F.S. site.

Leechate Collection

Each miniature athletic field is lined with a pond liner and has a drainage system which will drain into these collection wells.

Each collection well can be bypassed and drain into the overall drainage system if there is too much moisture from the test area.

Rootzone Frames

Each of the individual fields needed to have a frame around it to hold the rootzone in as well as for sides to form a containment edge for the pond liner to capture any water that goes into the rootzones. There are 1056 posts used for the frames, and 10,50 board feet of lumber.

Individual Testing Plots Construction

CAFS is made up of 60 (15 feet by 30 feet) miniature

athletic fields. 30 of these fields are synthetic

and 30 of the fields are natural turfgrass fields.

There are five different rootzones under the natural turfgrass plots consisting of: USGA spec sand, ASTM athletic field sand spec rootzone mixture, native soil with a four inch sand cap, native soil topdressed with sand over time, and native soil rootzone. There are two natural turfgrasses (Kentucky bluegrass and bermudagrass) used in combination with each of these five rootzones. The goal of all of these combinations of fields is to be able to collect data from several different types of athletic fields used. Each of these fields has it's own irrigation and all of the leechate can be collected from each field.

Smoothing the Surface

After the rough grade was close then the entire site was checked again with a laser level and final more precise grading was done. These are pictures of the site on June 16.

Working with the Weather

Often it was a struggle to get a full week of work in with the rain showers during early June. Even with the weather though progress moved ahead.

Ensuring a Level Surface

The grade of the center was checked for accuracy using a laser level. Often the operator of the machine would point to areas to double check after they had passed over a spot.

Rough Grading Continued

Efforts to make a level area for the center took about two weeks. The total center covers about 2 acres of land. Here soil that has been moved from one end of the site that is above the finished grade is being compacted into place. David Johnson moves soil into place to be compacted for a firm subsurface.

Moving soil into low spots created traffic jams on the site with all of the the equipment ending up at one end of the center.

These pictures were all from June 7th, 2010.

Athletic Field Research at U.T.

In the foreground Tony Cortez runs the Cady Traffic Simulator simulating football traffic while the construction progresses in the background on the Center for Athletic Field Safety.

Rough Grading Continued

The removal of topsoil and rough grading of the project took around three weeks. Weather only delayed work one day during this time period. Also in the picture is the U.T. project engineer keeping a close eye on the progress of the construction crew.

Leveling the Job Site

Leveling the entire site took about three weeks. The entire site was checked with a laser level to ensure the elevation was the same. This picture was on June 4th, 2010.

Rough grading

Much work went into preparing a level site for construction. The total elevation change on the job site was close to 8 feet of elevation change. This was leveled to only about a foot of elevation change. Close to 4,400 cubic yards of soil were moved on this project.

Topsoil stockpile

Here topsoil is being stockpiled for use later in the project for the native soil athletic fields.

Removal of topsoil

One of the first steps in creating the Center for Athletic Field Safety was to remove all of the topsoil from the site and stockpile it for use later. Close to 170 cubic yards (13 truck loads) of topsoil were removed from the job.