EP0215991B1 - Building element for planted retaining walls - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to construction elements for retaining walls intended to be lined with vegetation.

The increasingly important creation of trenches for the creation or enlargement of roads requires the creation of retaining walls.

These walls are expensive and unsightly. Preserving the environment involves lining the retaining walls with vegetation.

These retaining walls can be used by individuals, by professionals (Points and Pavements, Rural Engineering, Landscapers, Public Works Companies, Clutivators etc.).

There are already building elements. These elements act as bins, they are boxes which leave a large open space so that shrubs or covering plants can develop there. These elements are mounted dry by nesting, one inside the other.

Other elements have a cavity shape which prevents too rapid evacuation of water. The elements or tanks are filled with soil as the construction elements are assembled. By their box shape, these elements produce, in the assembly of the retaining wall, a sequence.

Document DE-U 7 824 776 describes a retaining element for embankments, natural slopes or earthworks. It is formed of a bottomless cube-shaped tank with a vertical partition which separates the tank into two equal cells, said partition connecting the upstream wall and the downstream wall perpendicularly. The lateral blocking of the element is ensured by two shoulders, the first shoulder is provided in the middle part of the upper edge of the side wall to continue along the upstream wall and end on the upper edge of the another side wall opposite the starting point of the first shoulder.

The construction elements described above are made of flower pots, which are mounted dry and assembled together to form a retaining wall. This type of retaining wall is more or less fragile, depending on the slope of the slope or the trench, the climate, etc. Plants have a decorative function to hide the wall, but they do not cooperate in any way with the building elements and the soil to improve the stability of the wall.

The invention tends to solve these problems. Plants have an action on the retaining wall which is anchored by the roots of plants in the ground, the roots of plants also intersect from one building element to another, thus improving the assembly of said elements together .

The retaining wall, intended to be lined with vegetation, and constituted by dry-mounted construction elements, by interlocking of the elements one inside the other, and by superposition on each other, each element being of the type constituted by a bottomless tank with vertical partitions is characterized in that a first vertical partition, parallel to the upstream wall of the tank, delimits a large space downstream which acts as a flowerpot and at least one space towards the upstream which acts as rooting cells for the upper tank set back, offset upstream on the lower tank, the latter space being divided into at least two smaller spaces by a second vertical partition perpendicular to the upstream wall and at the first partition; the size of the upstream spaces is such that when the tanks are superimposed on each other, the roots which come out of the upper tank, can only go towards the ground and not in the lower tank, that is to say that the vertical partition of the upper tank comes to the level of the upstream wall of the lower tank.

A building element can be composed of two tanks or of several tanks without bottom.

The building element consists of two adjacent tanks, made in a single block.

It has indentations on the side walls of the tank, so as to allow the tanks to fit into each other.

• La figure 1 est une vue d'un élément de construction, vu de dessus, composé de deux bacs.
• La figure 2 est une vue en coupe de l'élément de construction suivant l'axe A-A représenté à la figure 1.
• La figure 3 est une vue en perspective d'un assemblage d'éléments de construction.
• La figure 4 est une vue en coupe d'une assemblage d'éléments de construction mettant en évidence le talus, la tere dans les bacs, les plantes et leurs racines.

The attached drawings given by way of indicative and non-limiting example will easily make it possible to understand the invention. They represent a preferred embodiment according to the invention.

• Figure 1 is a view of a building element, seen from above, composed of two tanks.
• FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the construction element along the axis AA shown in FIG. 1.
• Figure 3 is a perspective view of an assembly of building elements.
• Figure 4 is a sectional view of an assembly of building elements showing the slope, the land in the tanks, plants and their roots.

The building element 1 according to the invention consists of a bottomless tank 2, vertical partitions 3, 4 delimit a large space 5 and at least two spaces 6 and 7.

The vertical partitions 3 and 4 are arranged so that they delimit a large space 5 downstream and at least two smaller spaces 6 and 7 upstream.

A building element 1 can be composed of two tanks 2A, 2B or of several tanks without bottom.

The vertical partitions 3, 4 delimit, downstream, a large space 5 and upstream two smaller spaces 6, 7 and this, thanks to a partition 3 parallel to the upstream wall 8 of the tank and to the perpendicular partition 4 connecting said upstream wall 8 and the partition 3 which is parallel to it.

According to another preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the construction element 1 consists of two adjacent tanks 2A, 2B, produced in a single block, which reduces the manufacturing costs.

The roots 9 of a plant 11 can pass from one tank to another through the large space 5, on the other hand, they can, through spaces 6 and 7, only go directly into the soil 10. Thanks to these spaces upstream 6 and 7, the roots 9 intermingle from one plant 11 to another but only in the soil 10.

The size of the spaces 6 and 7 is such that when the tanks 2 are superimposed on each other, the roots 9, which come out of the upper tank, can only go towards the ground 10 and not in the lower tank, it that is to say that the vertical partition 3 of the upper tank comes at the level of the upstream wall 8 of the lower tank.

In FIG. 4, the first tank rests on a sole 12, then the block is buried in the ground, leaving it protruding by several centimeters, approximately eight centimeters.

If the height of the wall is low, about 1.50 meters, the sole 12 is made of sieved earth. If the wall height is greater than 1.50 meters, the footing is poured. Notches 13, arranged on the side walls 14 of the tank 2, allow the tanks 2 to fit into each other when they overlap, to dry mount the retaining wall.

Claims (4)

1. A support wall intended to be ornamented with plants, consisting of construction elements (1) that have been mounted in dry condition by fitting said elements one into the other and superposing them one on the other, each element being of the type consisting of a vessel without a bottom (2) and having vertical partition walls (3, 4), characterized in that a first vertical partition wall (3), parallel to the rear wall (8) of the vessel, delimits a large space (5) in the direction towards the front, serving as a flower pot, and at least one space in the rearward direction, serving as alveoli for the roots of the set back upper vessel which, at the rear, is arranged on the lower vessel in out-of-line fashion, with the latter space being subdivided by a second vertical partition wall (4) perpendicular to the rear wall (8) and to the first partition wall (3) so as to define at least two smaller spaces (6, 7), and in that the rearward spaces (6, 7) are of a size such that, when the vessels are superposed on one another, the roots (9) coming forth from the upper vessel can only extend as far as to the bottom (10) and not into the lower vessel, which means that the vertical partition wall (3) of the upper vessel is at the level of the rear wall (8) of the lower vessel.

2. The support wall according to claim 1, characterized in that a construction element (1) may be composed of two vessels (2A, 2B) or of a plurality of vessels without a bottom.

3. The support wall according to claim 1, characterized in that the construction element (1) consists of two adjacent vessels (2A, 2B), manufactures as one block.

4. The support wall according to claim 1, characterized in that the same has arcuate cutouts (13) on the lateral walls (14) of the vessel (2) to permit fitting the vessels into one another.

Images