EP0441083B1 - Prefabricated concrete monobloc elements for the construction of retaining walls - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to precast concrete elements for the construction of retaining walls.

The technical sector of the invention is the manufacture of precast concrete elements for public works.

One of the main applications of the invention is the construction of retaining walls of inclined or vertical slopes, having a straight or curved alignment and associated with sound absorption properties, and in which one wishes to preserve the possibility of growing plants .

We know of various systems which allow the creation of retaining walls, either by the technique of box walls made up of fairly heavy elements, or by the technique of modular elements built into each other, but rare are the systems that meet to all the previous application constraints.

In the first category, various patents have been filed and we will refer for example to that n ° FR 2421243 filed by the COMPANY ALBERT PELLER et Cie) which describes sound insulation walls, composed of transverse beams and interwoven longitudinal beams with the previous ones which form two continuous chaining and the longitudinal beams located at the front of the wall have a trough-shaped section. The transverse and longitudinal beams frame rectangular wells filled with topsoil.

Furthermore, patent FR 2435661 from the SABLA company describes box walls which include transverse walls composed of beams placed one above the other; façade plates inclined towards the outside when rising, which are placed in notches of the transverse beams and of the transverse bars or beams which connect the rear ends of the beams.

All the walls described in these previous documents are composed of relatively heavy prefabricated elements, which require the use of handling equipment for their installation. Moreover, the The shapes of these prefabricated elements are often complex and require the production of expensive prefabricated molds.

In the second category, in which the present invention is situated, there are dozens of patent applications, which in fact respond to some of the criticisms that can be made of the first category, by proposing lighter elements which can then be handled and set up by hand.

In addition, the small relative dimensions of these elements can allow, depending on their configuration, to follow curved slope profiles while the elements of the first category, which are longer, do not adapt to all the desired curves.

We will also refer by way of example to patent application No. FR 2374478 filed by Mr. Jean FAMY on 12/16/76 on "slope support elements" each consisting of a parallelepipedal block having female grooves in triangle on all its faces and which thanks to male keys of square section inserted between the blocks and slid in the grooves facing each other join the elements together; by the play of several parallel and perpendicular grooves, it is thus possible to follow an inclined slope, to make angles, but not to follow curves or to revegetate said slope.

German patent application No. DE 3118487 filed on 05/09/81 by Mr. REINHARD Juraschek describes cylindrical elements with a vertical axis, the section of which is in the form of puzzle pieces with two grooves in two opposite vertical faces and two female grooves compatible with the former on two other opposite vertical faces, which elements can be connected by elongated parts making a ball joint between two female grooves of two basic elements and thus making it possible to follow a curve. However, it is not possible to follow an inclined slope with a steep slope, or to revegetate it.

Patent application FR 2570411 filed on 09/19/84 by Mr. Pierre CHAMBREUIL relates to "monoblock elements for the consolidation of double walls"; these elements have a flat face and the opposite face consisting of coarse and female grooves which can cooperate and self-lock with those of other elements which are assembled in staggered rows in the two directions of the plane formed by the wall that you want to build: it is then self-locked without mortar or cement, but cannot be tilted or curved and is therefore not suitable for an embankment.

We also know the European patent application n ° 0215994 filed on 26/09/85 by the Swiss Rolf SCHELWILLER on elements in the form of a box with a hollow square section in their center and comprising female dovetail grooves in the middle of their four vertical faces: they are then assembled to each other by connecting plane elements having joined ends which can be housed in the grooves of said box elements: this system allows tracking of inclined slopes thanks to other intermediate parts and parallel and perpendicular grooves on the lower and upper faces, but does not allow curves to be followed.

We could also cite many other patents such as that of the same Swiss as above filed on 20/03/87 in Europe No. 0282679 and complementary to the previous one with additional elements allowing precisely the monitoring of curves, or that of Mister RUCKSTUHL Willi deposited in Germany on 01/12/87 under the number DE 3740646 describing a set of six to eight elements cooperating with one another using dovetail grooves to produce various profiles of inclined or vertical slope walls. We also know from GB-A-9474/1915 a building block having the characteristics mentioned in the preamble of claim 1 attached.

All of these rapidly exposed systems are: either fairly simple to make, to assemble and have few elements, but then they are only suitable for one type of use, or rather complex both in making and to assemble, and to include many different elements to adapt to different configurations.

In addition, most of them cannot be produced by automatic machines for prefabrication of concrete elements: in fact, these machines must be able to demold the elements produced by sliding the walls or accessories of molds in only two directions; few machines, and they are then very complex and add to the cost price of the element, can thus make grooves in perpendicular directions on more than one face.

The problem is therefore to be able to produce prefabricated concrete monoblock elements for the constitution of retaining walls, the shape and the imprints of the faces allow a manufacture with conventional and standard automatic machines, and of which said single external shape makes it possible to produce vertical or inclined walls, thickening of these walls by adding these elements assembled together one behind the other while maintaining the curve or straight alignment; the dimensions of these elements being compatible with manual handling and the interior shape which can be adapted to allow the inclined retaining wall to be planted and to absorb radiating noise.

To this end, the present invention relates to a one-piece element according to claim 1 appended.

The objective of the present invention is achieved with a monobloc element as above and comprising a single groove on each of its lateral faces, on one side in female dovetail shape and on the other in shape male dovetail, which forms tolerate between them an angular rotation of an element compared to that which is adjacent to it.

In a preferred embodiment, said one-piece element comprises two guide grooves on the rear face in the form of a male dovetail and two on the front face in the form of a female dovetail.

According to an advantageous characteristic, the one-piece elements such as above additionally comprise a central cavity open on the upper and lower faces and for other elements, said cavity is closed on the side of the upper face and open on the lower face thus that on the front face by at least one chute communicating with a groove of female guide of this face.

The result is new prefabricated concrete monoblock elements for the construction of retaining walls which respond to the whole problem posed and allow any form of wall to be produced. Indeed, existing systems including those mentioned above do not allow as their description shows to achieve any form of assembly except by adding intermediate parts while the elements according to the present invention are all of the same main external dimensions; and even when the current systems allow various possibilities of shape, they cannot be produced automatically by standard machines, while the elements according to the present invention, by their parallel grooves on each pair of opposite face, and of semi open profile , allow such manufacture.

Thus these elements by assembling one above the other, one next to the other and one behind the other can constitute any kind of retaining walls: straight or inclined and at a variable angle, frontal, concave or convex curvature, rear reinforcement; in the case of inclined walls, certain elements can then be re-vegetated and in all cases certain elements can be noise absorbing.

In addition, these elements may be of small size, of the order of approximately 20 kilos, to be able to be handled manually; they do not require any parts or intermediate elements to fit and fix them; their implementation is therefore simple and rapid.

We could cite other advantages of the present invention, but those mentioned above already show enough to demonstrate its novelty and interest. The description, the drawings and the figures below represent an exemplary embodiment of the invention, but are in no way limiting: other embodiments are possible from the claims which specify the scope and extent of this invention , in particular by changing the shape of the guide grooves between elements.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of two one-piece elements ready to be stacked.

Figure 2 is a view in four planes of a standard element.

Figure 3 is a view in four planes of an element acoustic.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of a retaining wall.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view of a retaining wall.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of two monoblock elements, one of which can be qualified as standard 1 and the other as acoustics 2 and ready to be stacked one on the other along their common vertical axis xx 'to constitute a column. The standard element 1 is described in FIG. 2 in detail, the acoustic element 2 in FIG. 3.

• les rainures 8 de la face avant 14 et celles de la face arrière 15 peuvent être de toute forme pouvant coopérer entre elles pour immobiliser, même en traction, et aligner les éléments les uns derrière les autres : ce peut être par exemple des tenons ou des queue d'aronde de profil connu ; il peut y en avoir une ou plusieures par faces. Pour des raisons esthétiques on mettra de préférence les rainures femelles 8 en face avant,
• les rainures 10 et 11 des faces latérales 16 peuvent être de même type que celles des faces avant et arrière, et assurent la même fonction d'immobilisation et d'alignement des éléments, mais les uns à côté des autres : cependant, si dans la direction de profondeur les éléments sont en général suivant un plan perpendiculaire à la face avant, dans la direction de largeur les éléments peuvent avoir à suivre une courbure concave ou convexe ; pour cela chaque face latérale ne comporte alors qu'une seule rainure, d'un côté male et de l'autre côté femelle, et tolèrent entre elles un jeu suffisant pour qu'un élément puisse pivoter par rapport à l'autre comme décrit dans la figure 5,
• les rainures 6 et 7 des faces supérieure 17 et inférieure 18 respectivement sont de forme et de nature différentes des précédentes : en effet, les éléments peuvent être immobilisés les uns sur les autres par le seul effet de la gravité de leur poids, il n'est donc pas nécessaire d'avoir des rainures de maintien comme dans le plan horizontal ; de préférence pour simplifier d'une part la fabrication lors du démoulage et d'autre part leur centrage lors de leur empilage, elles sont de section de type pseudo trapézoïdale en creux pour celles 6 des faces supérieures 17 avec la plus grande base tournée vers l'extérieur, et en bosse pour celles 7 de la face inférieure 18 avec la petite base tournée vers l'extérieur et éventuellement arrondie. D'autre part, comme les éléments doivent pouvoir suivre une pente de talus incliné, les rainures femelles 6 sont au moins au nombre de deux et de préférence trois et les rainures maies ne peuvent être que de deux et pouvant s'encastrer dans deux rainures femelles à cheval sur deux éléments placés en dessous comme décrit dans la figure 4.

These elements are of the rectangular parallelepiped type with six parallel faces two by two having externally in a known manner guide grooves capable of cooperating between two adjacent elements; the arrangement and the function of these grooves are however in the present invention specific to it and not taught by any existing device:

• the grooves 8 of the front face 14 and those of the rear face 15 can be of any shape that can cooperate with one another to immobilize, even in traction, and align the elements one behind the other: this can for example be tenons or dovetail of known profile; there may be one or more per side. For aesthetic reasons, the female grooves 8 will preferably be placed on the front face,
• the grooves 10 and 11 of the lateral faces 16 can be of the same type as those of the front and rear faces, and provide the same immobilization and alignment function of the elements, but one beside the other: however, if in the direction of depth the elements are generally in a plane perpendicular to the front face, in the direction of width the elements may have to follow a concave or convex curvature; for this, each lateral face then has only one groove, on a male side and on the other female side, and tolerate between them sufficient play so that one element can pivot relative to the other as described in Figure 5,
• the grooves 6 and 7 of the upper 17 and lower 18 faces respectively are of different shape and nature from the previous ones : indeed, the elements can be immobilized on each other by the sole effect of the gravity of their weight, it is therefore not necessary to have holding grooves as in the horizontal plane; preferably to simplify on the one hand the manufacture during demolding and on the other hand their centering during their stacking, they are of pseudo-trapezoidal type of hollow section for those 6 of the upper faces 17 with the largest base facing towards 'exterior, and in bump for those 7 of the underside 18 with the small base facing outwards and possibly rounded. On the other hand, as the elements must be able to follow an inclined slope slope, the female grooves 6 are at least two and preferably three, and the grooves can only be two and can be embedded in two grooves females straddling two elements placed below as described in Figure 4.

The block elements are preferably of rectangular, rectangular shape whose length is in the direction of the depth of the wall they constitute.

• la vue 2D est une vue de face de l'élément c'est à dire de la face avant 14 de celui-ci. Les rainures 8 forment des raies verticales et afin d'interrompre celles-ci dans un but esthétique surtout si les blocs ne sont pas tout à fait alignés verticalement, elles peuvent être coupées horizontalement en au moins une de leur extrémité par une encoche 13 de rupture de ces lignes verticales. Ici on n'a figuré que l'extrémité supérieure, mais elle peut être coupée aussi, ou à la place, à la partie inférieure.
• la vue 2B est une vue en coupe dans le plan CC de la vue 2D : on distingue alors avec précision la disposition des rainures 6 de la face supérieure située à la même distance d les unes des autres ou le même élément représenté, mais aussi entre celui-ci et un autre placé devant et/ou derrière par emboîtement de leur rainure de guidage 8 et 9 ; ces rainures sont ici au nombre de quatre mais il pourrait y en avoir que trois ou au contraire davantage. Sur la face inférieure deux rainures maies 7 suffisent et sont placées dans le plan vertical des deux rainures 6 extrêmes de la face supérieure. Par ailleurs et de préférence, d'une part pour alléger l'élément et d'autre part pour donner les fonctions de végétalisation ou d'acoustique comme représenté figure 4, cet élément standard dit de base comporte une cavité centrale 4 ouverte sur ses faces inférieure et supérieure : cette cavité peut être de section rectangulaire.

FIG. 2 is a view of the four planes of a standard element 1 as shown in perspective in FIG. 1:

• the 2D view is a front view of the element, that is to say of the front face 14 thereof. The grooves 8 form vertical lines and in order to interrupt them for aesthetic purposes, especially if the blocks are not completely aligned vertically, they can be cut horizontally at at least one of their ends by a notch 13 of these vertical lines. Here we only figured the upper end, but it can be cut too, or instead, at the bottom.
• view 2B is a sectional view in the plane CC of the 2D view: there is then a precise distinction between the arrangement of the grooves 6 of the upper face located at the same distance from each other or the same element shown, but also between this and another placed in front of and / or behind by fitting their guide groove 8 and 9; there are four of these grooves here, but there could be only three or more. On the underside two coarse grooves 7 are sufficient and are placed in the vertical plane of the two extreme grooves 6 of the upper face. Furthermore and preferably, on the one hand to lighten the element and on the other hand to give the functions of greening or acoustics as shown in Figure 4, this standard element called basic comprises a central cavity 4 open on its lower and upper faces: this cavity can be of rectangular section.

The views of 2A and 2C are those from below and from above, that is to say from the faces 18 and 17. There are precisely the grooves 8 and 9 of the front and rear faces and those 10 and 11 of the side faces. The outer surfaces 20 and 21 of these lateral grooves 10 and 11 actually act as a ball joint to allow the rotation of an element relative to the following: their shape must therefore be of spherical or conical type enveloping a sphere and / or allow sufficient play while those of the grooves 8 and 9 can be of any other shape.

We also note in these views the central cavity 4 passing right through the element and all the other traces parallel to the front and rear faces being those representing the grooves 6 and 7 of the lower and upper faces.

• la vue 3D est la vue de face de cet élément qui est identique à celle de l'élément 1 standard mais qui comporte en plus deux goulottes 12 situées dans les rainures 8 et communiquant avec la cavité centrale. Ces goulottes débouchent également à la partie inférieures et s'arrêtent à mi hauteur de l'élément. Il pourrait n'y avoir qu'une seule goulotte 12.
• la vue 3B est une vue en coupe DD de la vue 3D, où l'on retrouve les même rainures 6, 7, 13, 8 et 9 que dans l'élément standard suivant la figure 2B. Par contre la cavité centrale 5 est fermée du côté de la face supérieure 17. Elle est ouverte totalement vers la face inférieure 18 et partiellement vers la face avant 14 par les goulottes 12.
• les vues 3A et 3C sont celles de dessous et de dessus de cet élément acoustique, avec ses rainures de guidage latérale 10 et 11, frontale 8 et arrière 9 comme pour l'élément standard 1. On distingue en son centre les cavités 5 acoustiques : en effet, celles-ci sont ici représentées en deux volumes, mais il pourrait y en avoir qu'un seul ou plusieurs. En fait, les dimensions de ces volumes 5, des goulottes 12 et le nombre des éléments 1 standard empilés en dessous pour faire une cavité verticale dépend des fréquences de sons que l'on veut absorber. L'élément acoustique 2 peut être suivant le cas utilisé seul. Préférentiellement compte tenu de leur usage en murs de soutènement de talus, donc essentiellement en bordure de route, ladite cavité 5, et la goulotte 12 associées éventuellement ou non aux cavités 4 des éléments monoblocs 1 placés en dessous constituent une cellule dite de Helmholtz pour absorber des sons, de fréquence comprise entre 50 et 500 hz.

FIG. 3 is a view of the four planes of a so-called acoustic element 2:

• the 3D view is the front view of this element which is identical to that of the standard element 1 but which also comprises two chutes 12 located in the grooves 8 and communicating with the central cavity. These chutes also open out at the bottom and stop halfway up the element. There could be only one chute 12.
• view 3B is a sectional view DD of the 3D view, in which the same grooves 6, 7, 13, 8 and 9 are found as in the standard element according to FIG. 2B. On the other hand, the central cavity 5 is closed on the side of the upper face 17. It is completely open towards the lower face 18 and partially towards the front face 14 by the chutes 12.
• the views 3A and 3C are those from below and from above of this acoustic element, with its lateral guide grooves 10 and 11, front 8 and rear 9 as for the standard element 1. At its center are the acoustic cavities 5: indeed, these are represented here in two volumes, but there could be only one or more. In fact, the dimensions of these volumes 5, chutes 12 and the number of standard elements 1 stacked underneath to make a vertical cavity depends on the frequencies of sounds that one wants to absorb. The acoustic element 2 can, depending on the case, be used alone. Preferably given their use in slope retaining walls, therefore essentially at the roadside, said cavity 5, and the trough 12 possibly or not associated with the cavities 4 of the monoblock elements 1 placed below constitute a so-called Helmholtz cell for absorbing sounds, with a frequency between 50 and 500 Hz.

In a particular preferred embodiment, the so-called Helmholtz cell is obtained by threading into said cavity 4, 5 sheaths of suitable synthetic materials.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view BB according to Figure 5 of a retaining wall of an embankment 23, and consisting of one-piece elements 1 and 2 as described above.

Elements 1 and 2 in fact play the same role to constitute the front face of the wall by stacking one above the other, either vertically like those of the second and third rows from the bottom, or with a fruit towards the rear, equal to the interval d between two grooves 6 like those of the fourth and fifth rows, at two intervals d between two grooves 6 like those of the third and fourth rows, at three intervals d between two grooves 6 like those of the first and second rows; and more or less steep slopes could be achieved in this way.

In rows where the offset is large, such as the first and fifth for example, can then be planted with plants.

In some rows the elements can be stacked to form acoustic absorption cells as with the second and third rows.

The front elements 1 and 2 in a particular embodiment may comprise only a surface offering only an aesthetic shape and then be used only to produce the visible wall of said retaining wall.

It can then be added behind these front elements as many elements 22 as desired to reinforce said wall, either in a pyramid as shown in the figure, or at an angle if the lower supports are not necessary, either with deep rows only every three, four or more vertical rows.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view AA according to Figure 4 of a retaining wall of a slope 23, and consisting of one-piece elements 1 for the front face of this wall and elements 22 to reinforce said wall to the back.

The lateral faces of these elements 22 are planar and the element is then used only to make thickenings for reinforcing the front wall of said wall.

Indeed, given the embedding of the front wall, one should not have too much constraint in the degrees of freedom of the rear elements and their only connection in the direction of the depth and in vertical stacking is sufficient to ensure the stability of the book.

In addition, when the wall is curved, concave in shape as in the figure, but it could be convex, the elements 22 must then approach or move away: when they get closer if their corner touch, we delete one on two to continue extending the reinforcement if necessary. Depending on the profiles of the grooves and the dimensions of the elements, the maximum angle of curvature can be variable, for example up to four degrees.

The hollow elements 1 and 22 can also be filled themselves with materials in order to constitute a weight wall.

Claims (10)

1. One-piece prefabricated concrete block for building retaining walls, in the form of a six-faced parallelepiped, having on one of its vertical faces, called front face (14), keying shapes (8) and on the opposite face (15) keying shapes (9) whose shape is complementary and which are capable of cooperating by interfitting the keying shapes of the front face of an adjacent element, said keying shapes (8, 9) being disposed according to a direction which is parallel to a so-called vertical edge of the parallelepiped, the so-called top (17) and bottom (18) faces of the parallelepiped situated in planes which are perpendicular to said edge have keying shapes (6), and keying shapes (7) whose form is complementary to the keying shapes respectively, characterized in that the top face (17) includes, parallel to the front face (14), at least two and preferably three hollow keying shapes (6) which are open generally trapezium-shaped and situated at equal distances (d) apart on the same block and between two blocks disposed one behind the other by interfitting their keying shapes (8, 9) respectively and in that the bottom face (18) has, in parallel with the front face (14), and in the same vertical plane as the two outermost keying shapes of the top face (17), two male keying shapes (7) being capable of interfitting in any two of the keying shapes (6) of one or two blocks placed beneath said block.
2. One-placed prefabricated concrete block according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes two keying shapes (9) on its rear face (15) in the form of male dove-tails, and two keying shapes (8) on its front face (14) in the form of female dove-tails.
3. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that it includes a single keying shape (10, 11) on each of its side faces (16) with the shape on one side being in the form (10) of a female dove-tails, with the shape on the other side being in the form (11) of a male dove-tails, which shapes tolerate a degree of angular rotation of one of the blocks relative to an adjacent block.
4. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it includes a central cavity (4) open to its top and bottom faces.
5. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it includes at least one central cavity (5) which is closed towards the top face (17) and open towards the bottom face (18) and which is also open to the front face via at least one slot (12) communicating with a female keying shape in said face.
6. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to claim 5, characterized in that said cavity (5) and the slot (12) optionally in association with the cavities (4) of one-piece blocks (1) placed therebeneath constitute a "Helmholtz" cell capable of absorbing sound at frequencies lying in the range 50 Hz to 500 Hz.
7. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to claim 6, characterized in that the "Helmholtz" cell is obtained by installing sheaths of suitable synthetic material in said cavity (4, 5).
8. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the keying shapes of the front face (14) are interrupted horizontally at a least one end by a vertical line-breaking groove (13).
9. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that its front face (14) has a surface which is purely decorative in appearance with said block being for use solely in constituting the visible surface of said retaining wall.
10. One-piece prefabricated concrete block according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that its side faces are plane with the block being used solely for constituting reinforcing thickness for the front surface of said wall.

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