Patent Application
20080170913
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally a system for joining adjacent sheet pile panels employing connection beams and a geogrid for providing an anchoring system. The connection beam is positionable between adjacent sheet pile panels and provides a mechanism for attachment of geogrid material.
The present invention provides a connection beam having complementary male and female connectors on opposing sides that interlock with their respective male and female connectors on sheet pile panels. The connection beam has an extension or flange that projects reward of the beam. The extension or flange is provided with through holes for the insertion of a connection rod therein. The connection rod is joined to the geogrid by any suitable emans. The geogrid forms the anchor for the wall structure once the back fill of the wall structure has buried the geogrid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other sea wall retaining panels designed for the same purpose, typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 972,059 issued to Clarke on Oct. 4, 1910.
Another patent was issued to Weber on Dec. 10, 1929 as U.S. Pat. No. 1,739,108. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 1,933,483 was issued to Pennoyer on Oct. 31, 1933 and still yet another was issued on May 7, 1935 to McKeen as U.S. Pat. No. 2,000,492.
Another patent was issued to Smith on Oct. 22, 1935 as U.S. Pat. No. 2,018,423. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,435 was issued to Mason on Feb. 1, 1972. Another was issued to Muller on Mar. 22, 1977 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,883 and still yet another was issued on Dec. 31, 1985 to Weatherby as U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,804.
Another patent was issued to Kulchin on Aug. 28, 1990 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,097. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,414 was issued to Miller on Nov. 29, 1994. Another was issued to Wheeler Jr., et al. on Aug. 17, 1999 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,375 and still yet another was issued on Oct. 9, 2001 to Byrne, et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,386.
Another patent was issued to Grossman on Mar. 5, 2002 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,230. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 6,709,201 was issued to Race on Mar. 23, 2004. Another was issued to Timmerman on Jun. 21, 2005 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,258. Another was issued to Chaplin on Chaplin as U.K. Patent No. GB 2 314 575. and still yet another was published on Jun. 3, 1999 as International Patent Application No. W99/27191 to Burt, et al.
In a structure of the character described, the combination with a foundation having a continuous groove, of a series of metal sheet piles adapted to be set in said groove to form a temporary wall.
A retaining wall, comprising a row of driven metal piles, concrete slabs recessed at their ends to enclose said piles, and hangers passed over the tops of the latter and having their ends embedded in the end faces of said slabs to support and align the same said recesses being filled with cement to form an integral waterproof structure.
A wall comprising a plurality of interlocking steel sheet piling inserted into the ground with king piles spaced therealong and standing above the others, pre-cast concrete wall sections having recessed in their side edges receiving said king piles so their bottom portions are supported by the rest of said piles and bonding material between said sections and piles forming the whole into a water tight unity.
The method of building a retaining wall upon a bed of solid rock which consists of drilling a series of vertical sockets in the rock, placing a beam as a simple beam vertically on end in each socket, reducing the bending moment of each beam by rigidly and structurally fixing its inserted end with respect to its socket, and connecting the upstanding portions of the beams by a bearing surface arranged to receive a horizontal load.
A wall structure comprising sheet piling, anchored tie rods engaging said sheet piling and formed of sections certain of which are pivotally connected at one end with said sheet piling below the surface of the water for movement downwardly from a substantially vertical position and are of a length less than the distance from their pivots to the top of the piling, and pivoting means connecting said pivotally connected sections with the anchored ones of said sections.
A retaining wall for supporting the embankment of a cut excavation. The wall structure consists of a skin of concrete, an array of rows and columns of dowels or tendons extending from the skin into the cut embankment and rows of wale beams at the juncture of dowels and the face of the skin tying the components together. The retaining wall is built as the cut proceeds. A cut to a selected depth is covered by a skin of pneumatically applied concrete. The dowels are formed as reinforcing, grout filled boreholes and the wale beams are formed as reinforced concrete members pneumatically sprayed against the skin.
There is disclosed a device for fixedly attaching a double-t or an i-beam to a sheet piling. Such fixed attachment of the beam is effected by welding an anchor bolt to the rib of the beam and/or bracing bars which in turn are welded to the flanges of the beam. Such welding is effected prior to transporting the beam to the location for attaching it to the sheet piling. Due to the welding of the anchor bolt to the flanges or the rib of the beam, the beam can be driven into the ground with the anchor bolt already attached thereto. Mounting of the anchor bolt and thus of the beam is effected in a conventional manner by a screw connection and a hinge disc.
A tied back retaining wall structure is disclosed comprising channel-shaped sheet piles, a reinforcing bar matrix and a concrete wall encasing the matrix and filling the channels of the piles. The reinforcing bar matrix comprises an array of laterally disposed reinforcing bars which span the spaces between the piles. Headed studs welded to the piles insure a secure connection of the wall to the piles. A method of constructing such a wall is disclosed which comprises excavating downwardly in stages after installing sheet piling in the ground, erecting a reinforcing bar matrix and pouring or spraying concrete over the structure to form the finished wall.
Permanent concrete wall construction disposed adjacent the face of an excavation cut in the earth and having a base comprising a plurality of soil anchors extending into the earth through the face of the excavation cut. The soil anchors include reinforcing elements which have a definite liftetime in excess of 50 years. The soil anchors have proximal extremities which extend outwardly away from the face of the cut. A permanent concrete wall extending upwardly from the base of the excavation with the proximal extremities of said soil anchors being buried within the concrete wall. The concrete wall has a finished architectural surface formed as an integral part thereof.
The invention relates to a method and system for rehabilitation of an existing retaining wall or bulkhead.
A method and device for sealing the joint formed by the connection of adjacent sheet piling sections. Prior to installation in the ground, a housing having an open side is attached near the edge of a sheet piling section. A barrier is inserted between the open side of the housing and the sheet piling section and a sealant material is added to the housing. After the sheet piling section and the attached housing are installed in the ground, the barrier is removed and the sealant material contacts the joint to form a watertight seal.
A retaining element system is provided that improves face stability in poorer quality soils that are not suited to conventional soil nailing. The method includes inserting retaining elements substantially vertically into an earthen mass to shore the face of an excavation. The earthen mass can be any material or combination of materials, such as soil, clay or rock that requires excavation for the installation of a shoring wall. The plurality of retaining elements are placed side by side in a substantially linear arrangement. A plurality of soil nails are then inserted into the excavation plane, at the approximate midpoint between a pair of adjacent retaining elements. An exposed tip portion of each soil nail attaches to a wale, which is a substantially horizontal element that contacts a retaining element on both sides of each soil nail. The wale can be a beam, bracket, or a set of concrete reinforcement bars. The beam or bracket can either be a structural member, formed of steel or the like, or alternatively formed from a precast concrete. The concrete reinforcement bars can then receive a concrete fill to form a solid wale structure. Face stability is achieved with the pre-installed retaining elements, which with the wales provide complete facing support.
The modular wall includes a sheet pile wall 12 with support brackets 20 that provide cantilever support to a facade of interlocking rows of blocks 30-34. The support member 20 includes vertical members that extend from the top of the sheet piling part way down the length of the sheet piling. Base members 24 extend firm the vertical members and are supported by angled braces 22. Horizontally extending key members rest on the base members and are affixed thereto. The key members provide a key for connecting to a slot of a first row of modular blocks. The modular blocks are stabilized by geogrid 28 that is captured in the key and slot interconnection of the modular blocks and is affixed to the sheet piling 12 or embedded in concrete fill.
Connectors for use in a retaining wall and a retaining wall having grooved blocks configured to receive the connector. Connectors can be used in various orientations within the grooves of the blocks. In a retaining wall, a flexible geosynthetic material fits into a channel of a channel connector, and is held in place by an elongate bar. The connector prevents abrasion of geosynthetic material. The connector can also be a plurality of spaced-apart projections for use with an apertured, relatively rigid geogrid. The connectors hold geogrid firmly in place, providing for increased connection capacity.
Apparatus for maintaining a seawall disposed between a body of water and retained earth includes at least two anchoring devices installed on the seawall at spaced locations and a connecting member for rigidly interconnecting the anchoring devices to maintain the separation distance therebetween. The connecting member may have a fixed length or may be adjustable in length to adjust the separation distance between the anchoring devices. A method of maintaining a seawall involves forming a passage through the seawall from a water facing side to an earth facing side of the seawall, inserting an anchoring member in the passage, advancing the anchoring member into the retained earth to anchor an anchor of the anchoring member in the retained earth, and securing a retaining member on the anchoring member along the water facing side of the seawall to apply compressive force against the seawall.
Interlocking sheet piling (60, 62) is made of extruded hollow section reinforced structural plastics, and is anchored in position, after being lightly driven into place, by anchor pins (64) extending through passages in the individual piles and deep driven into the waterway bed, and ground anchors (66) locked in open channels (87) on the rear faces of some of the piles, retained by infill (104). The installed piling is covered by capping (68).
The present invention is directed to a retaining panel of one-piece construction for a body of water. A preferred embodiment of the retaining panel comprises a central portion, two side portions, and two flanges. The central portion has a first end and a second end. One side portion is integrally connected to and extends at a first angle from the first end of the central portion. Similarly, the other side portion is integrally connected to and extends at a second angle from the second end of the central portion. It is preferred that the first angle and the second angle are approximately equal. It is further preferred that the lengths of the first and second side portions are approximately equal. One flange is integrally connected to and extends at a third angle from a rear end of one side portion, and the other flange is integrally connected to and extends at a fourth angle from a rear end of the other side portion. It is preferred that the third and fourth angle are approximately equal. Each of the flanges has a proximal portion and a distal portion. The distal portion of one of the flanges defines a female connecting portion, and the distal portion of the other flange defines a male connecting portion. The retaining panel is preferably adapted to be interlocked with a substantially similar, adjacent retaining panel by inserting its male connecting portion into the female connecting portion of the adjacent retaining panel.
While these sea wall retaining apparatus may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide means for attachment of geogrid material to seawall panels or retaining wall panels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a connection beam having opposing side portions with complementary male and female connectors.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a connection beam having an extension or flange, which extends from the connectors where the flange can be drilled for attachment of a geogrid which functions as an anchor.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of connecting the geogrid material to sheet pilings comprising inserting the connection beam between adjoining sheet pile panels, drilling a through hole in the extension or flange of each of the connection beams, installing a connection rod in the through holes and connection a geogrid to the connection rod.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a quick method of seawall or retaining wall construction.
Additional objects of the present invention will appear as the description proceeds.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a connector beam positionable between seawall panels for attachment of geogrid material. The connector beam has male and female connectors, which are designed to mate with the male and female connectors on a sheet pile panel. These connectors allow a connection beam to join to adjacent sheet pile panels when the beam is inserted between the adjacent sheet pile panels. The connector beam has an extension or flange projecting rearward. The extension provides a means for attaching the geogrid material to the connection beams. The geogrid may be secured to the connection rod by any suitable means including but not limited to fasteners.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawing, like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views.
The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims.
In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:
With regard to reference numerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the drawings.
2 Tie Rod (Prior Art)
4 Deadman Anchor Piling (Prior Art)
10 Present Invention
12 Bulkhead
14 Ground Level
16 Water level
18 Cap
20 Wale Beam
22 Connection Beam
24 Female Connector
26 Male Connector
28 Central Section
30 Joining Member
32 Sheet Pile Panel
34 Geogrid
36 Mat
38 Profiled Portion
40 Extension
42 Connection Rod
44 Through Hole
46 Clamping Member
48 Threaded Fastener
50 Threaded Hole
The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention (and several variations of that embodiment). This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments, practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. For definition of the complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to appended claims.
The geogrid 34 is secured to the beams via a connection rod 42. The connection rod 42 is seen in
The geogrid 34 is modular structure made of individual mats 36 secured to each other. A geogrid 34 may have a width of just one mat 36 as seen in
The through holes 48 in the extensions 40 of the connection beams 22 are typically drilled on site. They also could also be drilled prior to bringing the connection beams 22 to the installation site. These through holes 44 extend through the extension 40 of the connection beam 22 as seen in
The support system of the present invention may be employed on any sheet pile panel with male and female connectors. Once such sheet pile panel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,667 to Burt et al. The support system of the present invention may be employed with the sheet pile panels disclosed in my copending Patent Application with the title Corrugated Asymmetrical Retaining Wall Panel, (attorney docket number JM-4-jm) filed with the United States Patent Office on 5 Sep. 2006, application Ser. No. 11/515,935, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
