Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This application is a non-provisional utility patent application claiming benefit of priority to and incorporating by reference in full the provisional patent application No. 62/651,716, filed Apr. 2, 2018, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 119.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark office, patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present inventive subject matter pertains to a geofoam device and system that assists in the reduction of lateral earth pressures on subterranean structures against backfill material and overburden.
It is common practice in civil engineering and building construction to design structures with enough strength to withstand earth pressures without reduction by a buffer zone. The task is not without challenge against typical large and variable loads. There is considerable prior art on this subject that makes use of “geofoam” as a means to reduce the magnitude and variance in micro-environmental loads exerted on a buried structure (Stark, Bartlett, & Arellano, 2012). See, Stark, T., Bartlett, S., & Arellano, D., Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Geofoam Applications & Technical Data, EPS Industry Alliance, 2.9 (2012).
Geofoam commonly consists of expanded polystyrene (EPS) to limit earth stresses exerted on structures. It is used as ultra-lightweight fill at densities typically in the range of just 0.70 to 2 pcf (pounds per cubic foot).
For many decades starting in northern Europe in the 1970's, large volumes of geofoam blocks have been used to buffer underground structures from vertical and lateral loading pressures of soil mass. These blocks range in thickness and width by units of feet. Although most commonly used to reduce vertical loads for the purpose of limiting subsidence of soft ground under structures and roadways, large volumes of geofoam block can also be used to limit lateral earth pressure on structures if the underlying soil surface is shaped within its “angle of repose” so that the soil underlying the geofoam volume is in itself stable against sliding or slope failure. See
Other prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,696 which discloses a geofoam device and method that comprises less volume of EPS material than previously described by multiple layers of materials with different properties (Horvath & Wagoner, 1998).
Foam material, as a general treatment in architecture, has primarily and historically served the function of insulation. For example, both extruded polystyrene (XPS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam board are commonly used to provide thermal insulation on either the exterior or interior face of structures. While XPS foam is an effective insulating material, the manner of its manufacture is not amenable to production for geofoam production. Due to its material composition and inherent physical attributes, XPS is too rigid for purposes of serving as a stress-strain buffer against underground lateral earth pressures.
Effective prior art applications for the purpose of load reduction have failed to explore beyond a certain superficial range of geofoam product behavior, utilizing only a small range of elastic strain capability not yet having attempted to utilize the full range behavior and attributes of foam to pressure interactions. Currently in the art it is not possible to achieve sufficient underground buffer for an underground wall or structure against vertical and lateral earth pressures without added thickness to the foam beyond that required to provide the desired amount of thermal insulation. There remains a need in the art to capture the full range of capability of geofoam technology for a thinner and more easily transportable product with enhanced adaptability to the wide variety of environmental demands.
The invention herein relates to a device and system that provides improved stress-strain buffer support and reactionary support against various subterranean environmental pressures, particularly lateral earth pressures, for underground architecture. Specifically, a device and system having an effect that improves on the prior art but embodied in thinner portions for commercial ease.
In order to exercise a greater range of compressive stress-strain behavior of foam materials than that of prior art, the properties throughout the full potential range of strain behavior, from small amounts of strain within the elastic range, throughout the long term continuing compressive creep, and into a third range of large compression within which the cellular structure of the foam is collapsing, must first be accurately characterized by performing physical tests. This is more complex than testing many other common building materials because the stress-strain properties of synthetic plastic cellular foam materials are time dependent. The stress response for these materials is much greater for rapidly applied strain rates than it is for slowly applied strains. Similarly, under any fixed amount of compressive strain that is applied, the responding stress decreases over time. Herein this is referred to as “stress relaxation”. The rate of stress relaxation is initially quite rapid, but decreases over time at a diminishing rate that is linearly proportional to the numeric logarithm of elapsed time. And for any amount of constant stress that is applied beyond the initial elastic range, increasing amounts of compression continue but at similar diminishing rate over time. This is referred to as “compression creep”. To characterize the full range of time dependent stress-strain behavior, evaluation of any candidate foam material must include tests of both short duration as well as long term duration such as presented in
While the common ASTM D1621 Standard Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Cellular Plastics is convenient in that it takes just minutes to perform, it doesn't begin to develop the long-term time dependent behavior because it is standardized at the quite rapid strain rate of 10% per minute. And the long-term testing that is recommended for the purpose of assuring that long term compressive creep is avoided in foam insulation applications focuses on identifying just the threshold that creep begins to occur (in ASTM C165-Standard Test Method for Measuring Compressive Properties of Thermal Insulation), which is commonly limited to only about 2% strain in EPS foam. So common testing practice doesn't provide complete understanding amongst foam manufacturers or material testing laboratories of the full range of potential stress-strain behavior into large ranges of strain in the synthetic plastic cellular foam materials commonly being produced, much less relate that to commensurate amounts of shear strain that must be developed in earthen backfill materials to reduce earth pressures against structures.
Lateral earth pressures normally exerted by earthen backfill materials at increasing depth against structures is proportional to the unit weight (bulk density) of the backfill material, the depth of backfill at any point, and the two to three dimensional relationship of states of stress within the backfill material as is characterized by the “lateral earth pressure coefficient”. This has been well studied in geotechnical engineering practice (and is summarized in detail in Determination of Earth Pressure and Displacement of the Retaining Structure According to the Eurocode 7-1, Eugeniusz Dembicki, Bogdan Rymsza, 2016). In the case where a buried structure is non-displacing, meaning that it isn't allowed to move away some small amount from the backfill material as is the case for building basement walls, the lateral earth pressure coefficient is termed the “at rest” condition by geotechnical engineers and is represented by the symbol Ko. This value is recognized for common conditions at being equal to the numeric value of (1-sin (phi)), with phi representing the “internal angle of soil friction” that is characteristic of any particular earthen backfill material. The internal angle of soil friction commonly ranges from 30 to 36 degrees angle in sand materials, to as much as 40 degrees or slightly more for angular gravel. So common values of “at rest” (Ko) lateral earth pressures range from 0.5 down to 0.35. As example, if a particular sand backfill material has a bulk density of 130 pcf (pounds per cubic foot) and internal angle of soil friction of 34 degrees, the “at rest” lateral earth pressure coefficient is 0.44 and the lateral earth pressure exerted against a non-displacing wall is (0.44*130)=57 pcf times the depth for each foot of backfill depth. In architectural parlance, this example backfill material exerts a lateral earth pressure of 57 pcf of “equivalent fluid pressure” (EFP). At just a couple of feet depth the resulting lateral earth pressure is 114 psf (pounds force per square foot) of wall area. At eight feet depth the lateral earth pressure is 456 psf. The resulting pressure profile, with an appropriate “load factor” or “safety factor” applied to it as required by judgment or building code (which is 1.7 for lateral earth loads for reinforced concrete design), defines the pressure profile that the wall must be designed to withstand. So this example wall needs to be designed to have enough strength to resist a pressure profile that ranges from 194 psf at two feet depth, increasing to 775 psf at eight feet depth in order to provide some reserve strength to withstand potential actual forces as they may vary due to various environmental factors. These are quite large pressures. However, if the wall is allowed to move a very small amount away from the backfill, as is tolerated in the design of many free-standing retaining walls, the lateral earth pressure is substantially less, as next described.
In cases where a wall is allowed some minor amount of displacement or rotation away from the backfill material, the lateral earth pressure is substantially less than the “at rest” earth pressure and is referred to as the “active” lateral earth pressure, represented by symbol Ka. The numerical value of Ka is equal to the numerical value (tan{circumflex over ( )}2(45-phi/2). For the same sand material described above with an internal angle of soil friction of 34 degrees, Ka=0.28, which is just 64% of the pressure exerted by the “at rest” condition and requires only that much designed wall strength in comparison. This reduction of lateral earth pressure from the “At Rest” to the “Active” condition is illustrated in
In order to achieve a reduction in lateral earth pressure exerted by backfill against a non-deforming stationary structure by introducing a geofoam device in between the structure and the backfill placed against it in order to reduce the earth pressure from the “at rest” to the “active” condition, the stress-strain properties of the geofoam device must be compatible with the stress-strain properties of the backfill material. The inventor herein having extensively researched this inquiry, has discovered the ability to manipulate certain features of plastic synthetic cellular foam material, particularly here expanded polystyrene (EPS), to create a unique combination of ranges in stress-strain of behavior (also referred to herein as Zones) not otherwise achievable by current standards of the prior art. For purposes of this invention, the physical attributes of the material composition of this device should comprise synthetic plastic cellular foam material having the appropriate range of stress-strain properties for the range of stresses and deformations for common or any specific circumstance for reduction of earth pressure against a buried structure.
Note that the behavioral features described herein is not limited only to EPS foam however and has been seen among other equivalent types of plastic synthetic foam material. The invention herein providing a studied identified shape and manner of use that enables multiple ranges of stress-strain behavior of plastic synthetic foam material, particularly including without limitations to EPS foam material.
This invention recognizes the ability of synthetic plastic cellular foam material, preferably EPS foam, to deform at different capacities with different ranges of stress-strain behaviors in reaction to various extents of pressure (refer to A Viscoelastic-Plastic Bahavior Analysis of Expanded Polystyrene under Compressive Loading; Experiments and Modelling, Abdellarif Imad, 2001). There are three identified performance ranges as illustrated in
The “Elastic” feature as described for Zone 1 comprises the ability of the foam material to deform and immediately regain its original shape. The material exhibits the most elastic quality at this phase. Upon greater duration and degree of pressure, the foam will be less able to bounce back by its original elastic qualities, and will begin to compress in response to any greater pressure imposed. This phase of foam behavior is described as “Compressive Creep” because the foam material is acting in different manner in Zone 2, exerting a resistant force by the existing state of its physical integrity but at the same time giving into the applied pressures with gradual amount of compression and deformation continuing over time but at decreasing rate. Beyond this, further compressive strain causes increasing degrees of collapse of the foam's cellular structure resulting in a material that increasingly approaches the physical characteristics of the solid plastic material of which the foam is made. Initiation of cellular collapse is identified as Zone 3 behavior wherein the material is permanently compressed to a fraction of its original thickness. Throughout Zone 3 behavior increasing amounts of compressive stress are required to additionally compress the material. This is referred to as “strain hardening”. The current typical problem of the existing art is due to the lack of utilization of Zone 2 stress-strain behavior, much less Zone 3, because the simple planar uninterrupted continuum of geometric foam blocks of the prior art would experience excessive long-term compressive strain if pressures exceeding their Zone 1 elastic behavior were applied.
The invention herein provides an improved product and system based on extensive experimentation and newly gained knowledge. To begin, this invention introduces a new device and method by which the full capacity of plastic synthetic foam performance, preferably EPS foam, is captured and manipulated to provide function including and extending beyond Zone 1 and importantly into Zone 2 of its stress-strain behavior. This inventive feature is achieved by manipulation of EPS foam material (or an equivalent compressible plastic synthetic foam material having the same manner of performance and behavioral qualities) to form sheets having a first planar side having a flat planar surface and on the opposite side a nonplanar side with a plurality of peaks (or alternative referred to as comprised in the form of protrusions) and valleys. Each said peak having a tapered cross-sectional shape starting at a base and terminating at a relatively narrowed tip, each valley defined by the space between two adjacent peaks. The first planar side being at least 1.0 inch thick for common applications, said second non-planar side being at least 0.5 inch thick between the base and tip of each peak of said plurality of peaks, wherein the total thickness of said solid sheet of foam material between said first planar side and second non-planar side is at least 1.5 inches thick. Each peak of said plurality of peaks having a cross sectional shape wherein the height is each said peak is ⅓ to 1½ times the width of its said base. Each valley comprising a space adjacent to a peak which begins at the base of said peak. The cross-depth or thickness of said non-planar side beginning from the base of each peak and terminating at the tip of the tallest peak thereon. The cross-sectional depth or thickness of said planar side is defined by the depth of the remaining planar sheet of plastic foam material from the base of said plurality of peaks rearward to the flat planar surface of said planar side. The first planar side is preferably 0.5 to 3 inches thick and may be greater than 3 inches thick. The total thickness of the solid sheet of foam material between its flat planar surface and the tip of the tallest peak of its plurality of peaks between its said first planar side and second nonplanar side is 1.5 inches and up to 4.5 inches thick but may be greater than 4.5 inches. The device in its entirety is preferably 1.5 to 4.5 inches thick between the planar and non-planar sides, but may be scalable to any size proportion. The variety of peak and valley shapes or quantity interspersed on the non-planar side of said geofoam sheet need not be uniform or confined to a particular geometric shape. The cross-sectional shape of each said peak may further be symmetrical or non-symmetrical. What is necessary to the implementation of this invention is for each peak to have a tapered cross-sectional shape that terminates at a relatively narrowed tip end. That each peak be separated from another peak by at least one valley. In this manner the surface is “shaped”. An example embodiment of this is illustrated in
Standard foam block design of the prior art when used as subterranean support is only able to provide compressive support within Zone 1 without resulting in excessive long term compressive strain because the continuum of uninterrupted foam cross section results in a uniform stress field throughout the entire thickness of the blocks. Stress application extending into Zone 2 behavior in an uninterrupted continuum resulting in long term compressive reserves no region of Zone 1 behavior available to compensate by rebounding. So blocks of uninterrupted continuum of foam must be sufficiently thick for their elastic (Zone 1) response to provide all of the necessary amount of shear strain deformation in an earth backfill material to reduce lateral earth pressure from the “At Rest” to the lessor “Active” condition.
In applications where the depth of backfill is so deep that even its “Active” lateral earth pressure would exceed what a particular structure can withstand, the invention herein can be used in combination with horizontal layers of tensile reinforcement placed in the backfill in order to reduce earth pressure against the structure than would otherwise occur.
The synthetic plastic cellular foam material for purposes of this invention is a solid semi-rigid material having desired density of 0.70 to 2 pounds per cubic foot, sustainable long-term compressive strength between 220 to 2,000 psf within its small (commonly 0% to 2%) range of compressive strain (seen primarily within Zone 1) by ASTM D1621 Standard Test Method for Compressive Properties of Rigid Cellular Plastics. The material composition of this invention being semi-rigid with sufficient elasticity to compress against pressures of backfill material in a time to pressure relationship as illustrated in
The shape of the peaks may be curved or geometric, or any combination of such shapes terminating with a relatively narrowed tip at its farthest end, the proportions of which are determined by analysis and/or physical testing necessary to provide the desired compressive stress-strain properties commensurate or compatible with the stress-stain characteristics of the backfill material for common or any particular buried structure applications. The preferred stress-strain properties commensurate to typical buried structures has been identified by this invention to comprise an ability of the nonplanar side of the device to compress within Zone 1 and Zone 2 range down to the base of said peaks, but without Zone 2 compression entering into the nonplanar side below said base. The nonplanar side of the device compressing primarily within Zone 1 stress-strain range of response. To achieve this diametric behavior among the two sides of the device, the height of each said peak on the nonplanar side is preferably ⅓ to 1.5 the width of its said base for the given preferred material composition and physical features of the foam material as described above.
The shape of each individual peak may not necessarily be radially symmetrical and can have asymmetric shape. More than one type of peak shape may be provided within a given amount of surface area space. Each valley space defined by its adjacent peak and serves the necessary function of breaking up continuity of said foam sheet, creating spatial separation between each peak, and allows for sufficient space between peaks for each peak element to form a tapered cross-sectional shape. This tapered shaping affect enables the foam material to properly deform in controlled manner among Zone 1, Zone 2, and potentially Zone 3 as described herein.
The system of this invention comprising use of the inventive device by its adjacent placement to a subterranean structure that is to be backfilled whereby the nonplanar side by its peak elements are in communicative contact with that side of the structure, and the planar flat surface of the planar side of this device engages with the backfill. The narrowed tips of the tapered cross-sectional shape of the peak elements in combination with the planar side of the device allows for deformation and compression to occur in timely staged manner within Zone 1 and Zone 2 within the device without being entirely overcome by the countering earth pressures to otherwise result in transfer of the differential soil load onto the structure. This is enabled by valleys interspersed between peaks which breaks up the continuum of the foam material allowing the peaks to operate throughout Zone 2 behavior, and potentially into zone 3, without Zone 2 behavior extending into the planar portion of the device (below the base of said peak elements) so that the planar portion is operating only within Zone 1.
Lateral pressure on any backfilled wall can be reduced by as much as 40% by shaping one side of EPS foam board (the non-planar side) with tapered narrowed peaks, valleys that continuously rise from another side (the planar side) that comprises a continuum of flat planar material of the same material composition as that of the non-planar side. Each peak may comprise two dimensional protrusions (or peak formations) much like lengths of ridges, each separated by another by at least one valley therebetween. Alternatively, each peak may comprise a peak island, completely surrounded by a valley space therearound between another peak island. This may be referred to as a three-dimensional peak formation. Photographs of examples of two and three dimensional embodiments comprise
In applications where the depth of backfill placed on top of a buried structure would exert excessive vertical pressure upon it, the device herein can be used to reduce that pressure by its deformation inducing “stress arching” if it is used in combination with placement of a zone of aggregate backfill of sufficient width and thickness placed above the structure and the device. An example of this embodiment is illustrated in
By introducing appropriate shape design to the surface of foam material, this device may be efficiently adapted to a large range of geological micro-environments, interacting with local climates that may require a large range of operating strains fluctuating seasonally and over time. Individual applications may have unique performance requirements that may include the qualities of available backfill materials, tolerance of expansive soils, ground frost heave, or geologic seismicity. The invention affords the ability to fine tune the stress-strain performance by way of a relatively thin board of EPS foam material through appropriate selection of the foam density (to which its “strength” is proportional), and the proportions of peaks (with accompanying valleys). The invention fulfills a need in the industry to provide options in geofoam technology and design to more effectively and efficiently address the variety of performance requirements of different micro-environments, while improving the environmental sustainability of construction and reducing material production and installation costs.
Note that all patents and applications referred herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is incorporated by reference herein is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of the term in the reference does not apply.
The inventive solution herein introduces a device, method, and system for reduction of soil pressure against a structure by controlled deformation adaptable to a variety of diverse micro-environments. The invention, according to an embodiment of
As illustrated according to
To start, the invention (as illustrated in
The peak elements additionally experience beyond Zone I both intermediate (Zone II) and advanced (Zone III) stress and strain to provide the desired amount of total compression needed to reduce the lateral earth pressure to a minimum possible “Active” condition using no more thickness of foam than is otherwise desired to provide thermal insulation. The peak and valley elements comprising a partial aspect of the device. The remaining portion (the planar side) comprising in fact a continuum of uninterrupted foam (planar sheet of foam material) located below the base of said peaks of the nonplanar side. This planar side portion of the device will continue to engage in the elastic range (Zone 1) in a manner similar to prior art (flat foam blocks). By effect, the device enables a concurrent combination of multiple range elastic and compression effect responding to changing soil pressure over its long-term application. The progression of this effect is illustrated in photographic images of deformation over time at constant pressure in
Typical ranges of horizontal load exerted by backfill materials placed against walls, including residual stress from compaction of backfill during its placement compaction stresses are depicted in
The first step in developing the details of any specific application of the invention is simply to select the foam density (in this case EPS foam) of which the stress at about 1% compressive strain sustains a stress commensurate with the maximum value of application's “At Rest” lateral earth pressure profile. The next step is to presume a thickness of the continuum portion (the planar side portion) of the cross section sufficient to provide most of the desired amount of thermal insulation to the structure. Because many building codes require a minimum R-Value of 10 in temperate climate regions and the R-Value of common densities of EPS is about 4/inch of thickness, a continuum thickness of about two inches accommodates most applications because the projections and air space of the peak and valley elements provides similar amount of insulation value per inch of cross section. The final specific application design step is to develop appropriate proportions and dimensions of the projections and recesses in at least one surface of the foam board that will provide the required short and long-term stress-strain interaction with the adjacent backfill material.
Because thorough time dependent stress-strain computational analysis of the above described methodology that has non-uniform cross sectional geometry is inordinately complex, quite simple analysis based on the three zone relationship of foam for stress-strain after a large amount of elapsed time (which avoids the time-dependency of computations) allows sufficient estimation of prospective particular foam density and shapes for specific application provided it is accompanied by verification from actual testing in the laboratory.
Because the three stress-strain zones within the invention's cross section shown in
Although the lab test results plotted in
While the peak and valley elements in the surface of the foam board could be formed during manufacture of the foam material, it's commonly most economical to cut (“hot wire”) them because these relatively thin, shaped sheets are being cut from large blocks of foam that are commonly four feet thick, about four feet wide, and sixteen to eighteen feet long. In order to prevent the relatively high stress-strain performance of the foam material's cross-sectional shape from extending into the continuum of the material in order to maintain a relatively uniform, low stress-strain field within that continuum, the peak elements must have a base width that is substantially less than the thickness of the continuum. And the height of the projections must be sufficient to provide much of the total compressive deformation that is required to mobilize reduction of earth pressure. Because compacted clay as well as granular soils have their own time-dependent stress-strain properties the design of the invention's projections and recesses must also take those properties into consideration to provide long term backfill interaction compatibility with the invention. This may include accommodation of ground frost heave, expansive soil swell, seismic acceleration of soil, as well as soil arching effects in vertical load applications.
The following photographs of
In
In
In
A preferred embodiment according to
For applications, as illustrated in
Another embodiment as illustrated in
The present invention is best understood by reference to the detailed figures and description set forth herein.
Embodiments of the invention are discussed herein with reference to the Figures. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limited embodiments. For example, it should be appreciated that those skilled in the art will, in light of the teachings of the present invention, recognize a multiplicity of alternate and suitable approaches, depending upon the needs of the particular application, to implement the functionality of any given detail described herein, beyond the particular implementation choices in the following embodiments described and shown. That is, there are numerous modifications and variations of the invention that are too numerous to be listed but that all fit within the scope of the invention. Also, singular words should be read as plural and vice versa and masculine as feminine and vice versa, where appropriate, and alternative embodiments do not necessarily imply that the two are mutually exclusive.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
It is to be understood that any exact measurements, dimensions or particular construction materials indicated herein are solely provided as examples of suitable configurations and are not intended to be limiting in any way. Depending on the needs of the particular application, those skilled in the art will readily recognize, in light of the following teachings, a multiplicity of suitable alternative implementation details.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5505563 | Curt | Apr 1996 | A |
6240700 | Sheu | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6280120 | Okamoto | Aug 2001 | B1 |
20080107852 | Rubb | May 2008 | A1 |
20100248574 | King | Sep 2010 | A1 |
20140082864 | Chandra | Mar 2014 | A1 |
20170030041 | Hargrave | Feb 2017 | A1 |
20180274200 | Weinstein | Sep 2018 | A1 |