Overhead guided-transport track span, and viaduct formed by such spans

Abstract

The invention relates to an overhead guided-transport track span having a U-shaped cross section, the two arms of which form lateral walls (4, 5) of said track, and the central region of which, connecting the two arms, forms a load-bearing slab (6) of said track, characterised in that said load-bearing slab (6) comprises at least one groove (10, 11) that is provided in said slab longitudinally along said span and is designed to be able to receive a running support (12, 13) of a guided-transport vehicle intended to travel on said track.

Claims

1. An overhead guided-transport track span having a U-shaped cross section, two arms forming lateral walls of said span, and a central region connecting the two arms, and forming a load-bearing slab of at least one track, said load-bearing slab comprising at least one groove that is provided in said slab longitudinally along said span and is adapted to receive a running support of a guided-transport vehicle intended to travel on said span, and in that said span comprises one longitudinal rib for each groove, which rib extends under said load-bearing slab opposite to said groove and forms longitudinal stiffening means of said load-bearing slab.

2. The span according to claim 1, wherein each groove has dimensions that are matched to and conjugate with the dimensions of the running support that is intended to be accommodated in said groove such that, once arranged in said groove, said running support does not extend beyond an upper surface of said load-bearing slab.

3. The span according to claim 1 wherein each longitudinal rib is formed by two longitudinal beams that are arranged on either side of said groove.

4. The span according to claim 1, wherein said stiffening means further comprises a trapezoidal caisson provided under the load-bearing slab.

5. The span according to claim 1, wherein the span comprises at least two parallel grooves that are provided longitudinally along said span so as to be able to each receive one running support.

6. The span according to claim 5, wherein the span comprises four parallel grooves that are provided longitudinally in pairs along said span so as to be able to each receive one running support and so as to be able to form a path portion of at least two adjacent tracks.

7. The span according to claim 1, wherein each running support is a rail selected from the group consisting of a railway rail for a wheeled rail vehicle, a central guide rail for a tire-based vehicle, and a lateral guide rail for a tire-based vehicle.

8. The span according to claim 7, wherein each running support is a metal profile.

9. The span according to claim 1, wherein the span is formed in one piece.

10. A guided-transport viaduct comprising: a plurality of overhead guided-transport track spans, each of the spans having a U-shaped cross section, two arms forming lateral walls of said span, and a central region connecting the two arms, and forming a load-bearing slab of at least one track, said load-bearing slab comprising at least one groove that is provided in said slab longitudinally along said span and is adapted to receive a running support of a guided-transport vehicle intended to travel on said span, and in that said span comprises one longitudinal rib for each groove, which rib extends under said load-bearing slab opposite to said groove and forms longitudinal stiffening means of said load-bearing slab.

Description

5. List of Figures

(1) Other aims, features and advantages of the invention will become clear from reading the following description, given purely by way of non-limiting example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a span according to an embodiment of the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic cross section of the span from FIG. 1 on which rails have been mounted,

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic cross section of a span according to another embodiment of the invention on which rails have been mounted,

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a viaduct according to an embodiment of the invention that is formed by a plurality of spans according to the invention,

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic cross section of a span according to another embodiment of the invention.

6. Detailed Description of an Embodiment of the Invention

(7) In the drawings, scale and proportion is not adhered to for reasons of illustration and clarity. Throughout the following detailed description, which is given with reference to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated each element of a span according to the invention is described as it is arranged when the span is mounted horizontally, for example on a viaduct pile (not shown in the drawings).

(8) According to the embodiment in the drawings, the guided-transport track span has a flared U-shaped cross section, the two arms of which form lateral walls 4, 5 that are slightly inclined away from one another relative to the vertical, and the central horizontal region of which, connecting the two arms, forms the deck (or load-bearing slab 6) of the track.

(9) The load-bearing slab 6 further comprises two parallel grooves 10, 11 that are provided longitudinally along the span. Each groove has a shape and dimensions that are matched to and conjugate with the shape and the dimensions of a rail, forming a running support for a vehicle that is intended to travel on the track formed by the span. According to the embodiment in the drawings, the grooves have a rectangular cross section that is conjugate with the overall size of a railway rail.

(10) According to the embodiment in the drawings, the grooves 10, 11 are designed to receive rails 12, 13 that are formed by metal profiles and are intended to permit the travel of a railway network train or underground. According to another embodiment, the grooves can receive guide rails or runways of a tyre-based underground.

(11) According to the embodiment in the drawings, the grooves 10, 11 are designed such that, once the rails 12, 13 are accommodated in the grooves they do not extend beyond the upper surface 7 of the load-bearing slab 6. In order to achieve this, the depth of each groove is at least equal to the height of a railway rail. According to an advantageous embodiment and in the case of a groove having a rectangular cross section, the width and the height of each groove are selected so as to be are slightly larger than the nominal values in order to take into account the civil engineering manufacturing tolerances.

(12) The distance separating the grooves 10, 11 is selected so as to be equal to the distance separating the two wheels on an axle of a vehicle intended to travel on the track formed by spans according to the invention.

(13) According to the embodiment in FIGS. 1 and 2, the span further comprises longitudinal ribs 14, 15 that are arranged under the load-bearing slab 6 and form longitudinal stiffening means of the load-bearing slab 6. These longitudinal ribs 14, 15 compensate for the absence of material resulting from the presence of the longitudinal grooves 10, 11 provided in the load-bearing slab 6.

(14) Only the rib 14 is described in detail in the following, given that the rib 15 is identical.

(15) The longitudinal rib 14 is formed for example by two continuous longitudinal reinforced concrete beams 20, 21 that are arranged on either side of the rail 12 once said rail is accommodated in the groove 10 opposite the rib 14.

(16) According to another embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, the span comprises a trapezoidal caisson 25 that is provided under the load-bearing slab 6. This caisson 25 forms the stiffening means for the load-bearing slab 6. This trapezoidal caisson 25 has an upper wall 26 in common with the load-bearing slab 6, a lower wall 29 that is parallel to the upper wall 26, and two lateral walls 27, 28 that interconnect the upper 26 and lower 29 walls to each other. The distance separating the two lateral walls 27, 28 is less than or equal to the distance separating the two lateral walls 4, 5 of the span. A span according to this variant makes it possible to form works of a significant length, for example 120 metres. This thus makes it possible to increase the distance separating two piles of a viaduct formed by a plurality of spans according to this variant, and thus to reduce the number of piles required and the number of spans required to form a viaduct.

(17) According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the span is formed in one piece from concrete.

(18) According to other embodiments, the span may be formed by a plurality of pieces of concrete that are assembled together using suitable assembly means.

(19) FIG. 4 shows a viaduct according to an embodiment of the invention that is formed by spans according to the embodiment in FIGS. 1 and 2. The viaduct comprises two piers 50, 51 that are anchored in the ground and on which a span according to the invention rests.

(20) According to another embodiment of the invention, and as shown in FIG. 5, the span comprises four parallel grooves 10, 11, 40, 41 that are provided longitudinally in pairs along the span. Furthermore, a running support rail is arranged in each groove.

(21) The span according to the embodiment in FIG. 5 forms two adjacent running tracks 60, 61 for railway vehicles. A span according to this embodiment thus forms the path portions of two adjacent tracks.

(22) Of course, according to other embodiments, a span according to the invention could comprise more grooves in order to form more parallel transport track portions.