Weld-free geocell with cellular structure for soil stabilization

Abstract

Geocell structures stabilize water body shorelines and beds, slopes and retaining wall bridge abutments in such areas of construction as the oil and gas, transport and hydraulic engineering industries, amongst others. A blank for producing a weld-free geocell is made from a polymer sheet material having incisions therein in the form of segments of parallel lines. Adjacent incisions in the same row have a distance S between the ends thereof and the relationship S/L=K1, where K1 is from 0.1 to 0.5. The incisions of adjacent rows are at a distance D from each other and have the relationship D/L=K2, where K2 is from 0.1 to 0.7. At the ends of the incisions, there are openings which are oval or circular in shape. A weld-free geocell includes at least one blank stretched in a direction perpendicular to the lines of the incisions to form a three-dimensional cellular structure.

Claims

1. A blank for producing a weld-free geocell, said blank comprising: a sheet polymeric material provided with incisions, said incisions being comprised of parallel line segments, each parallel line segment having a length L, said incisions being arranged in rows, wherein incisions in adjacent rows are offset along a direction of said incisions of respective rows; and additional openings for tendons so as to fix said sheet polymeric material in stretched state on a slope, wherein adjacent incisions in a row have a distance S between respective ends of said adjacent incisions, and wherein a relationship S/L=K1, K1 being in a range from 0.1 to 0.5, wherein said incisions in adjacent rows have a distance D from each other, and wherein a relationship D/L=K2, K2 is being in range from 0.1 to 0.7, and wherein ends of the incisions are provided with oval or circular openings, and wherein said additional openings for tendons are arranged in staggered order on parallel straight lines between the rows of the incisions, the adjacent additional openings being disposed at the distance S+L from each other in the direction longitudinal relative to the lines of the incisions and at the distance 2D from each other in the direction transverse to the lines of the incisions.

2. The blank, according to claim 1, wherein said sheet polymeric material is comprised of a strip.

3. The blank, according to claim 1, further comprising: a mesh engaged to said sheet polymeric material, said mesh reinforcing said sheet polymeric material.

4. The blank, according to claim 3, wherein said mesh is comprised of at least one of a group consisting of an aramid fiber and a carbon fiber.

5. The blank, according to claim 1, wherein K1 is in a range from 0.3 to 0.35.

6. The blank, according to claim 1, further comprising: additional drain openings.

7. The blank, according to claim 1, wherein said sheet polymeric material is texturized.

8. A weld-free geocell, comprising: at least one blank, according to claim 1, being stretched in the direction perpendicular to the lines of the incisions so as to form cells in a cellular confinement structure.

9. The weld-free geocell, according to claim 8, further comprising: at least one tendon drawn through said blank so as to fix said sheet polymeric material on a slope.

10. The weld-free geocell, according to claim 9, further comprising: at least another blank connected to said at least one blank by said at least one tendon so as to form a geotextile web section.

11. The weld-free geocell, according to claim 8, further comprising anchors engaged to said sheet polymeric material so as to fix said sheet polymeric material in a stretched state on soil.

12. The weld-free geocell, according to claim 8, further comprising: a filler contained in at least one cell, said filler being selected from a group consisting of: sand, coarse gravel, peat-sand mixture, and concrete.

13. A method for producing a weld-free geocell, comprising the steps of: providing a blank being comprised of: a sheet polymeric material with incisions, said incisions being comprised of parallel line segments, each parallel line segment having a length L, said incisions being arranged in rows, wherein incisions in adjacent rows are offset along a direction of said incisions of respective rows; and additional openings for tendons so as to fix said sheet polymeric material in stretched state on a slope, wherein adjacent incisions in a row have a distance S between respective ends of said adjacent incisions, wherein a relationship S/L=K1, K1 being in a range from 0.1 to 0.5, wherein said incisions in adjacent rows have a distance D from each other, and wherein a relationship D/L=K2, K2 is being in range from 0.1 to 0.7; providing the ends of said incisions with the oval or circular openings, wherein said additional openings for tendons are arranged in staggered order on parallel straight lines between the rows of the incisions, the adjacent additional openings being disposed at the distance S+L from each other in the direction longitudinal relative to the lines of the incisions and at the distance 2D from each other in the direction transverse to the lines of the incisions; and stretching the sheet material in a direction perpendicular to the parallel line segments of the incisions so as to form a cellular confinement structure.

14. The method, according to claim 13, further comprising the step of: reinforcing said sheet polymeric material with a mesh.

15. The method, according to claim 14, wherein said sheet polymeric material is texturized.

16. The method, according to claim 13, further comprising the steps of: providing additional openings in said sheet polymeric material; and drawing tendons through said additional openings so as to fix said sheet polymeric material in a stretched state on a slope.

17. The method, according to claim 13, further comprising: providing additional drain openings in said sheet polymeric material.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention is explained by the accompanying drawings.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a blank suitable for producing a weld-free geocell.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the structure of a weld-free geocell thus produced.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of the weld-free geocell structure with the use of tendons.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) The claimed blank for producing a weld-free geocell (FIG. 1) is made as a sheet polymeric material 1 (in particular, a polymer strip) provided with slit incisions 2 in the form of segments of parallel lines, preferably being straight lines. These incisions are arranged in staggered order in several rows (R1, R2, . . . RN), that is, segments in adjacent rows are offset relative to each other in the longitudinal direction (along the directions of the incisions). Each of the incisions 2 has an oval or circular opening 3 at its end, which enables to attain more equal distribution of stresses in the areas of the incision ends when the blank is stretched.

(6) The incisions 2 (except for those at the sheet edges) have the same length L and are disposed at the same distance S between the ends of the adjacent incisions in every row (R1, R2, . . . RN) (in the longitudinal direction) and at the same distance D between the incisions of adjacent rows (R1, R2, . . . RN) (in the transverse direction). The relationship S/L=K1, where K1 is in the range from 0.1 to 0.5, most preferably from 0.3 to 0.35; and the relationship D/L=K2, where K2 is in the range from 0.1 to 0.7. These distances between the linear incisions ensure the most uniform distribution of stresses arising during stretching of a blank, which improves tensile strength of a geocell, while maintaining its main functional properties.

(7) The coefficients K1 and K2 are selected from the above ranges, depending on particular conditions of the geocell use. For example, if the claimed geocell is used for reinforcing a slope with the gradient angle of 45, the coefficient K2 should be taken equal to 0.7.

(8) According to preferable embodiments, the sheet material 1 is provided with additional openings 4 for tendons 5 (FIGS. 1, 3) intended for fixing the geocell in the stretched state on a slope, for example. The openings 4 for tendons are made on parallel straight lines disposed in staggered order between the rows (R1, R2, . . . RN) of the incisions 2, the adjacent openings 4 being disposed at the distance S+L from each other in the longitudinal direction (relative to the K incision lines) and at the distance 2D in the transverse direction.

(9) Furthermore, the sheet 1 may be also provided with additional drain openings 6 (FIGS. 2, 3; not shown in FIG. 1) intended for water drainage from soil to be reinforced with the geocell.

(10) According to one particular embodiment of the invention, the polymeric material sheet 1 may be additionally reinforced with mesh made of aramid (e.g., Kevlar, SVM), or carbon (Carbon), or other fibers (not shown in the drawings) that increase the blank strength in the transverse and longitudinal directions, which makes the geocell cellular structure uniformly strengthened due to the absence of unreinforced welds.

(11) Furthermore, the surface of the blank sheet material 1 may be made texturized in order to improve geocell adhesion to soil.

(12) Also, the blank may have reinforcing ribs made as sheet bulges and oriented in the perpendicular and/or lengthwise direction (not shown in the drawings) relative to the incision lines in order to improve the structure stability.

(13) The sheet 1 may be made of a color polymeric material, which enables to use the stretched geocell for advertising or information purposes.

(14) The geocell may be produced from one or more said blanks by stretching in the direction perpendicular to the lines of incisions 2 for forming a cellular confinement structure (FIGS. 2, 3). The geocell ends should be fixed on soil with the use of anchors. If several blanks (i.e. geocell sections) are used, the last openings 4 in the adjacent sections are aligned with each other and tendons 5 are drawn therethrough, thus connecting adjacent sections and, at the same time, fixing the geocell.

(15) Depending on the purpose of the geocell, the structure cells may be filled with various fillers, such as sand, coarse gravel, peat-sand mixture, concrete, etc.

(16) The use of the proposed blank structure and a geocell produced therefrom enables to achieve the following advantages: reduced degree of washing out of the geocell filler, which is especially important when reinforcing slopes; expanded possibilities for using the geocell in new fields requiring higher performance, e.g., on slopes and in cones of bridges on rail and motor roads, in protection facilities of pipelines and soil embankments, for bank stabilization, etc.; improved strength of the structure in comparison with confinement geocells produced by welding of polymeric strips: significantly higher draining capability of the structure; lower mounting costs of the structure; if cells are filled with concrete, the geocell may be used for ascending a slope by using steps thus formed; furthermore, it is also possible to use the geocell structure as an information or advertising space.

(17) It is to be noted that the claimed invention is not limited by its particular embodiments described in the specification. Any additional improvements are possible, provided they do not go beyond the scope of the proposed totality of essential features.