Hydraulic and earth engineering – Bank – shore – or bed protection – Wave or flow dissipation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2001-04-10
Bagnell, David (Department: 3673)
Hydraulic and earth engineering
Bank, shore, or bed protection
Wave or flow dissipation
C405S035000, C405S021000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213682
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates generally as indicated to an offshore reef, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for dissipating the kinetic energy of waves to cause the deposition of sand and other particulates carried by the water on the bottom around the reef.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Shore erosion is a continuing problem along many shorelines including those of the oceans as well as the Great Lakes. During storms or rough water, beaches can literally disappear. Many efforts have been made to prevent this erosion ranging from breakwaters to offshore reefs. One particularly effective offshore reef assembly is shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,489.
The offshore reef assembly of this patent uses a series of substantially vertical supports. Blocks in the form of frustums of pyramids or cones are stacked on the vertical supports in an offset fashion to form with the inclined side faces of the blocks laterally spaced yet facing alternating ribs and grooves. The staggered faces on the blocks on the vertical supports dissipate the vertical wave action causing sand and other particulates in the water to drop out and be deposited on the bottom around the reef assembly.
One major problem with such offshore reef assembly is the complexity of the structure having a substantial number of parts, but also the difficulty of assembly offshore. A difficulty is that the parts may not be substantially preassembled on shore. The reef assembly literally has to be assembled offshore requiring an inordinate amount of expensive barge and crane time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the present invention, an offshore reef may be preassembled on shore in large sections and then quickly transported to the desired site for quick installation.
The offshore reef assembly includes large semi-cylindrical reef members extending generally perpendicular to the shoreline and submerged or partly submerged. The semi-cylindrical reef members are arranged in at least two tiers with those on top opening downwardly and those on the bottom opening upwardly. The reef members on the top tier are laterally spaced from each other as are the reef members on the bottom tier. The lateral spacing provides an ogee or reverse curved lateral dissipating path for the vertical action of the waves. The configuration diverts the vertical wave action to lateral action. The water moving through the semi-cylindrical reef members attenuates the water flow which in turn nullifies the transport velocity of the water to a point where it can no longer support material having a higher specific gravity, such as sand. The sand then drops out and builds up around the offshore reef assembly. The shore or beach is thus restored.
Several forms of offshore reef assemblies are disclosed. In each form the semi-cylindrical reef members are of generally the same size or diameter. The two oppositely vertically opening tiers are secured to transverse mid-frame members such as tubes or pipes which provides a large unitized section to facilitate fabrication and offshore transportation and placement. C-clamps may be welded to the edges of the reef members to facilitate attachment to the transverse mid-frame members. The generally scalloped arrangement provided by the oppositely opening tiers provides the lateral ogee path curvature to reduce the transport velocity. Preferably the opening of a semi-cylindrical reef member will overlap the two opposite laterally spaced reef members to an extent of half the radius. Thus, for a six foot diameter section the overlap would be 1.5 feet.
For an eight foot diameter section the overlap would be two feet.
The reef member sections may be fabricated from rolled steel. One convenient source is longitudinally cut tank or tank car sections. The reef member may also be formed from longitudinally cut large reinforced concrete pipe, in which case the internal mesh or reinforcement may be welded, for example, to such C-shape pipe clamps and thus clamped to unitizing pipe or tube frame members. A bottom frame may also be used. The bottom frame may include holes fitting over piles, or the bottom tier reef members may have sleeves which slide over piles driven into the bottom. The few simple and inexpensive parts easily fabricated on shore into a unitized frame make the offshore reef low cost both for fabrication, assembly and offshore placement.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3845630 (1974-11-01), Karnas
patent: 3908384 (1975-09-01), Frey
patent: 3928701 (1975-12-01), Roehner
patent: 4341489 (1982-07-01), Karnas
patent: 5011327 (1991-04-01), Thiac
patent: 5238325 (1993-08-01), Krenzler
Bagnell David
Lagman Frederick L.
Renner , Otto, Boisselle & Sklar, LLP
LandOfFree
Offshore reef does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Offshore reef, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Offshore reef will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2466947