Methods of construction and implements therefor

Details Methods of construction and implements therefor Methods of construction and implements therefor

1990-12-14

1993-10-19

Reese, Randolph A.

Hydraulic and earth engineering

Earth treatment or control

Shoring, bracing, or cave-in prevention

405276, 405284, 405274, E02D 302

Patent

active

052539598

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to the construction of walls, revetments, roads, suspended floor spans and the like. In particular, it is directed to a set of construction implements and the use thereof in a general method of construction which is of use in a number of areas.


BACKGROUND ART

When constructing a new building or the like, it is nearly always necessary to first excavate the ground upon which the building is to be erected so that the required footings can be constructed. The usual procedure is to excavate a suitable hole in the ground. The walls of this hole require support so that they will not collapse while the footings are constructed. This support is especially required when constructing a building very close to an existing building. In the absence of a suitable support, the foundations of the existing building may at least move or, at worse, collapse into the adjacent excavation.
For the deep excavations necessary for modern tall buildings such as office blocks and hotels, it is often a requirement that the ground be excavated to a depth of at least six meters. Further, to prevent any movement of adjacent buildings, it is often a requirement that the retaining wall(s) be constructed below ground level before any excavation is undertaken.
Similarly, when constructing a new dam, it is often necessary to provide some form of retaining wall around the dam site to prevent passage of the soil etc into the body of water as the dam fills and, also, to retain the body of water itself in the designated area.
Traditionally, such retaining walls have been constructed by the technique of "piling" wherein interlocking piles, each pile being approximately 0.33 m wide and up to 6 m long, are driven (by the repetitive application of a large impact force) into the ground to form a wall of the required width. This method is time consuming and expensive as a large number of piles have to be first driven into the ground and subsequently removed after the building foundations, walls etc have been constructed. Further, the bulk of the piles and the equipment necessary to first support and then drive them into the ground prevents a below-ground retaining wall from being built extremely close to an existing wall of a building or the like. In addition, the large force necessary (e.g. from an impact driver) to drive the piles into the ground results in shock waves through the ground which can damage the foundations of an adjacent existing building.
One alternative method that has been tried is to replace the afore-mentioned piles with sheets of metal. These sheets of metal, which are substantially wider than the piles, are also driven into the ground. However, although this alternative method reduces the time required to erect a retaining wall of given length, it is still necessary to remove the sheets after the building foundations, walls etc have been constructed as the sheets are too expensive to be used once only and thus left in the ground for all time. Further, the gauge of these sheets are such that, to position these sheets, it still requires the above mentioned traditional bulky equipment and the application of large impact forces with their attendant problems.
A modification of this known technique--described in UK Patent No 1074054 --is first to drive a preliminary ramming plate of relatively heavy gauge into the ground which is then withdrawn and a second plate--of lesser gauge--is then inserted into the "slot" thus created.
Although this modified method (using a lesser gauge and thus cheaper to manufacture sheet) may allow the second plate to remain in the ground for all time, it is essential always to create the "slot" before the actual second plate can be inserted into the ground. Thus the time to erect a retaining wall is not significantly reduced and the ramming of the first plate into the ground still involves large impact forces with their accompanying problems.
When constructing a revetment, it is nearly always necessary first to drain the water from where the revetment is to be erect

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Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 10, No. 315, Oct. 1986.

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