Tyre foundation structure

Details Tyre foundation structure Tyre foundation structure

2001-05-17

2003-03-18

Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)

Hydraulic and earth engineering

Foundation

C405S302600, C052SDIG009

Reexamination Certificate

active

06533501

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a foundation formed from one or more layers of tyres. When the term “foundation” is used herein, it includes any weight bearing surface such as a roadway, building foundation, railway track base, etc and any causeway including drainage floors, flow channels, drainage pit base, water sump, trickle filter base, bank way (including wave mat banks in water break walls) etc. The term “foundation” is not intended to include retaining walls or the like (which are covered in the applicant's co-pending application WO 98/49400), although various of those retaining walls are disclosed herein.
BACKGROUND ART
The use of tyres (especially used tyres) in retaining walls and retaining slopes is known. AU 10006/95 suggests a use for old tyres by providing a trench formed to accommodate the tyres in a side by side position to form a drain, tunnel, duct, ventilation shaft or the like.
FR 2643400 discloses a surface stabiliser formed from tyres set in straight lines and forming squares, with one tyre at each comer of a square. Alternatively, the tyres can be provided in staggered rows with adjacent tyres forming triangles. The tyres are bound together using natural synthetic fibres and can be filled with pieces of rock and covered, after laying, with rock or stones and a layer of soil to receive plants etc. However, FR 2643400 only discloses a single row of tyres, and does not disclose any structures which would be suitable for use in high load or highly erosive environments.
Similarly, RU 2060610 discloses a terracing arrangement employing used tyres in a staggered arrangement (
FIG. 2
therein). Again, the arrangement disclosed in this document is not suitable for use in high load or highly erosive environments, but is concerned with providing a simple mat-type structure to prevent land erosion from rain.
NL 7706564 discloses a mattress for reinforcing an underwater structure. A plastic fabric has tyres secured thereto and a weighting material (a coarse rock) is positioned in those tyres. In such an arrangement, the coarse material is highly susceptible to ingress of fines material and thus breakdown. In addition, the tyres are simply provided to carry the weighting material so as to hold the plastics underlay in position. The arrangement is not concerned with load bearing applications.
SU 1312130 discloses a slope covering formed from old car tyres. The structure includes a protective earth layer reinforced with used tyres over which a stone material reinforcement layer, also reinforced with used tyres, is laid. Junction elements are provided between the tyre layers to join the two together. In addition, a polymer screen to prevent the earth layer from being leached from the structure is provided, but again there is nothing to suggest any substantial anti-erosive performance or load bearing capacity.
RU 2043455 discloses a road bed construction method which involves forming a mat of tyres which are secured in the lengthwise direction. The tyres are connected at their treads, are then covered with earth, peat or sand and are then covered with a geotextile layer. However, the construction does not prevent the ingress of fine materials into the mat, and thus would deteriorate over time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a first aspect the present invention provides a foundation comprising one or more layers of tyres including a lowermost layer being located adjacent to the ground, and a fill material provided within tyres of each of the layers, wherein at least the lowermost layer has a porous sheet positioned thereunder which is adapted for allowing the passage of water across the lowermost layer whilst preventing the ingress of matter of a grade finer than the fill material into the lowermost layer.
The porous sheet is provided to prevent deterioration of the fill material within the layer by the ingress of finer surrounding material. This arrangement contrasts strongly with those shown in SU 1312130 and RU 2043455, which disclose arrangements concerned with preventing the earth layer from being leached or washed away from the hydrotechnical structure disclosed therein.
In a second aspect the present invention provides a foundation comprising one or more layers of tyres including a lowermost layer being located adjacent to the ground on a geo-fabric material, with tyres in the lowermost layer having an upper sidewall removed therefrom and being provided with a fill material therewithin,
Wherein the lowermost layer is enclosed within the geo-fabric material, and further fill material and/or one or more further layers of tyres overlay the enclosed lowermost layer to define the foundation. By removing a side wall of at least some of the tyres, fill introduced therein can be compacted and thus such tyres can form a securing function in any structure in which they are used.
In a third aspect the present invention provides a method of construction on ground of a foundation as defined in the first and second aspects including the steps of:
forming one or more layers of tyres including a lowermost layer;
positioning on the ground a porous sheet which is adapted for allowing the passage of water across the lowermost layer whilst preventing the ingress of matter of a grade finer than the fill material into the lowermost layer;
locating the lowermost layer on the porous sheet adjacent to the ground; and
filling within tyres of each of the layers with the fill material.
Foundations constructed in accordance with the present invention can be suitably employed on: roads; ground or sub base such as sand and wetlands; drainage ways, courses and channels; railway track bases; mining tunnels; ramps and slopes adjacent to lakes, rivers, creeks, oceans; wave dissipation and breakwater walls; waste cell pits; stockpile bases, pavements; silt traps etc. All such environments are susceptible to erosion and deterioration through water saturation, and previous barriers employed
In the foundation and the method of constructing the same, it is preferred that the tyres within each of the layers are laid generally horizontally and are located adjacent to one another in a fixed array, each of the layers in conjunction with the fill material forming a tyre mattress. Such a “mattress” construction provides a very stable foundation base and tends to resist erosion and provide high load bearing capacity.
In the foundation, or method of constructing the same, at least two layers of tyres can be provided, and preferably each tyre in each layer has a sidewall removed therefrom so that the tyres can be oriented to be generally upwardly open in use to receive the fill material therein. When each tyre is open (having its uppermost sidewall removed therefrom) fill can be readily compacted in each tyre and an extremely stable and strong foundation can be constructed.
In the foundation and method of constructing the same, typically the fill material is a rock aggregate or cobble of a relatively coarse grade. Such fill can be susceptible to dislocation and movement in use if finer material (such as sand) penetrates into the foundation structure. This is because the fine material “lubricates” the rock and reduces the interlock between aggregate pieces. Hence the foundation in accordance with the invention is provided.
The number of layers employed in the foundation typically depends on the anticipated loadings and required stability of the foundation (eg when it is employed as an underlying road, ground or sub-base).
Typically, the lowermost layer is laid on the ground with minimal earthworks or sub-grade excavation being required. Advantageously, the foundation requires relatively low sub-grade stability and is thus suitable in marsh or swamp land and other wet areas. The layers of tyres or tyre mattresses can also be offset with respect to adjacent layers to provide distribution of the load between adjacent tyres whilst reducing the stability (bearing pressure capacity) requirements of the underlying ground or sub-base (eg. one tyre in one layer can overlay up to four tyres in an u

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