GB2159863A - Flexible wall dams - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention deals with flexible wall dams comprising an upstanding, flexible, impermeable, inextensible, reinforced flexible wall having elongated upper 16 and lower peripheral edges, with the lower edge, positively and substantially sealingly secured to the base of the waterbed, the riverbed, the seabed or the like and the rest of the flexible wall supported directly or indirectly by contained fluid media 7 or by loose solid substance, shielded by the front flexible wall receiving the upstream water pressure 8. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Commonwealth flexible wall dams PRIOR ART 2-1- Up till now, to control river floods, people are using sandbags piled up in a trapezoidal cross section shape.

If the sandbags were emptied and piled in the same trapezoidal shape and wrapped all around with continuous piece of canvas or jute they would still hold the water of the rivers and prevent it from spilling out.

However, sand is heavy and has to be brought from a distance to the river bank and has to be returned once the river water is receding.

2-2- If a new material easier to handle is available and closer to the river bank it would save us the cost of the sand and its transportation.

2-3- Water is the nearest at hand, it is free and needs no transportation. Water is incompressible like sand but unlike sand cannot stand by itself, it needs a solid container where it could be retained.

2-4- A solid container is impractical and a flexible container has the same disadvantage as the water that it cannot stand up by itself.

2-5- However, together the water pumped inside an impermeable, flexible, inextensible container, it inflates the container to open to its-maximum and to stand as a substantially solid block.

2-6- But said water filled, flexible container, like a water-bed bag, would take a low, curved shape that the weight and the pressure of the water would force it to take.

2-7-1- If the skin of the flexible wall bag has been restrained by means of internal ties or the like to assume a certain shape like for example, a trapezoidal large base cross section bag, it could retain that shape once filled with water and form a perfect, solid, trapezoidal cross section shaped block, stable enough to stand the outside water pressure of the swelling river, and heavy enough, due to the weight of the water, to resist sliding under the water pressure and at the same time its heavy weight and large base of the trapeze prevent the water seepage under the water filled flexible block.

2-7-2- However the easiest way to create a solid block out of a liquid filled flexible container, is by using a circular flexible container of a tubular shape or the like.

2-7-3- If in the case of the flexible dike, the tubular dike is left free without restraining ties, said flexible tube, when filled with water, it would take a slightly oval shape resting on a narrow strip around its curvature, which fact allows the water to seep underneath the water filled tube and once the water reaches a certain height it would push away the water filled tube since the area of contact between the water filled tube and the ground is too little to offer any friction resistance with the ground.

2-7-4- If the tubular dike is provided with a water filled shoe to give a better seat for the water filled tube and to enlarge the area of contact with the ground, the water filled tube could be ideal to be used as a flexible dike, saving the previously described restraining ties to give the flexible tube a stable trapezoidal like shape.

2-7-5- The flexible shoe could be a tubular section joined to each other somewhere about its longitudinal center line to form two separate water tight sections.

The so formed multi tubular section could be used as a shoe under the main curvaceous flexible tube to form together a stable upstanding structure that, when filled with water it could stand firm on the ground to resist, with the help of anchoring lines in the waterbed, the building water pressure acting on it.

2-7-6- If the above mentioned structure comprising a longitudinal, tubular, water or air filled structure, is made continuous to close in a circular shape, the so formed structure could hold water inside it without the necessity to be anchored to the ground, due to the fact that the forces inside the so formed circular container counterbalance each other.

2-7-7--If one the other hand the said tubular structure with its tubular shoes is extended and rolled in a spiral shape to build up layer over layer and then filled with liquid or air, such blown up flexible spiral would stand up as a circular reservoir that could hold inside it liquid or solid substance provided it is made watertight and provided it is laterally supported to avoid any lateral swaying in one way or the other.

2-7-8- Moreover, to give a better stability to the structure already described in para.

2-7-7, the main tube forming the tubular structure could be made tapered beginning at a large diameter at one end and ending at a narrow diameter at the opposite end.

This fact makes each super imposed layer, of the spiral forming the reservoir, narrower than the layer underneath it where the all around formed wall of the reservoir would be large at its base and narrow at its top, which fact gives a better lateral stability to the so formed reservoir.

2-7-9- Another method to give stability to the upright, spiral, circular structure, is by erecting concentric, upright, circular structures interconnected to each other with upright walls to keep the concentric structures upright and equidistant from each other in a position that guarantees their stability.

2-7-10- For large water dams, intead of having longitudinal water or air filled structures it is advantageous in certain cases to have multi layers water filled flexible blocks, installed like a brick laying pattern, some blocks installed longitudinally along the line of the dam while other blocks are laid transversally across the line of the dam.

Such flexible blocks could be laid in place, while empty, then filled gradually to form the type of dam required.

Said blocks could be pre-fabricated with the largest units possible to handle while empty.

If the foundation of the dam is made at a slope towards the upstream direction, the so described multi block flexible dam, when erected, it would result tilting against the direction of the upstream water, which fact gives it a stability advantage against the water pressure from upstream.

If, the so described multi block flexible wall has its blocks somehow cemented to each other, and with a thin water barrier flexible wall covering the upstream side of the multi block wall and tightly anchored to the waterbed, such multi block flexible wall could hold a considerable water head pressure.

Besides, for further reinforcement, additional strapping anchored at the base of the wall on the downwstream side, wrapping the so described multi block wall and extending over the top of the dam to be anchored to fixed points upstream.

2-7-11 - Furthermore, if a water filled wall is built of continuous, longitudinal, flexible, tubular conduits-piled over each other to form altogether a trapezoidal cross section structure composed of multi tubular sections tied, each row to each other and to the adjacent rows above and below and the whole trapezoidal like shape structure is inserted into a major flexible tubular conduit joining the smaller tubes in one compact trapezoidal shaped structure, said structure, when laid on the ground in a continuous sinusoidal shape, with its base tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed, and its inner tubes filled with compressed air, or water and with proper anchoring ties connecting the upper parts of the said fluid filled structure, such structure could retain a considerable waterhead acting on it.

2-8- And the idea that holds true with the small scale water filled continuous flexible tubular structures used to replace the sandbags on the river banks, it could hold true for the large colossal concrete dams used on large rivers for the Hydro projects etc.

2-9- If an earth dam or a concrete dam is wrapped with a flexible, impermeable, inextensible, continuous wall that is tightly anchored to the waterbed at the opposite sides on the base of the dam, then the earth or the concrete of one half of the dam is excavated out and replaced with water, that excavated half would still stand up, the same as the solid concrete side of the dam provided that the outer skin of the flexible wall, retaining the water in the excavated half, is restrained with certain internal ties or other means etc.

to retain the shape of the original dam.

2-10- If this idea stands true and we have the water available in place, what for then would we need the complexity of the earth dam or concrete dam in the first place? 2-11- Up till recently the manufacturing and joining of such large flexible walls to wrap the area of a large dam, it was difficult and costly.

However, comparing the complexity and the high cost of the solid dams vis-a-vis the cost of a flexible membrane to cover only the periphery of a dam, there is no comparison no matter how costly is the flexible membrane.

2-12- This theory to build solid blocks relying on water incompressibility will find large fields of application.

A- For construction of dams.

B- For construction of dikes on the river banks.

C- For the extension of existing waterlocks.

D- For the construction of new waterlocks.

E- For liquid reservoirs and swimming pools.

F- For the construction of temporary and even permanent dwellings.

G- And in general, to replace many types of temporary or permanent structural compression members used in construction of any kind.

2-13- DRAWBACKS 2-13-1- Although by restraining the skins of the water container we force the water to build up inside the water container as if it possessed an angle of repose that is already established by the restraining of the container's skin to take a certain structural shape when filled with water, as the height of the water increases inside the restrained flexible wall tunnel, the cost of restraining the skins of the flexible wall tunnel increases tremendously that it becomes uneconomic to build flexible wall tunnels to restrain the flow of water.

2-13-2- For example a flexible wall water tunnel with 50 meters water depth would require ties to transfer stresses increasing from 0 at the surface of the water to 50 tons per square meter at the base of the tunnel.

This kind of flexible structure becomes costly and impractical.

2-13-3- Although the water is cheap and needs no transportation as it flows by itself to fill the flexible water tunnel dam, the water has no angle of repose and builds a water pressure increasingly with the height of the water column.

2-13-4- On the other hand, concrete built dams are costly and time consuming.

2-13-5- Loose earth dams are cheaper than concrete dams but they would melt and be washed away if they are built in a wall to retain a water column of a certain height.

2-13-6- However, loose earth or sand possess an angle of repose and do not trans fer high pressure to the base of the structure the same way as water does, their inconvenience is that the water seeps through the lose earth, turns it muddy and washes the loose earth away.

2-13-7- Consequently, if a loose earth dam is protected from the water by being covered on the upstream side with a continuous impermeable membrane, a trapezoidal wall dam, built to rest comfortably at its angle of repose and maintained dry, could retain a water column of a considerable height the same as a concrete dam would do.

2-14- As a result of the foregoing description in para. 2-13, for dams of high waterheads, it would be more ideal to have the flexible wall tunnels stuffed with earth instead of water.

In this case the material of the flexible wall need not to be heavily reinforced and need no transversal ties as is the case with the waterfilled flexible tunnels since the earth has an angle of repose and does not transmit lateral pressure to the base of the earth filled trapezoidal cross -section flexible tunnel.

2-15- On the other hand, a trapezoidal cross section earth filled dam need not to be covered with an impermeable, flexible wall all around as is the case with the water filled flexible tunnel; a thin, impermeable membrane of any kind on the upstream side of the earth wall-would be enough to prevent the water from upstream from seeping through the earth filled dam, melting the loose earth and washing it away.

In this case, caution would be made to have a watertight foundation to prevent the water also from seeping beneath the impermeable membrane and causing the whole earth dam to slide away downstream.

2-16- For this purpose, to prevent the earth filled dam from sliding away downstream, staggered rows of piles are driven into the base of the earth filled dam, protruding up through the area where the earth is to be filled and tilting against the water pressure direction.

2-17- Then a deep and watertight wall is driven in the waterbed at the upstream base of the earth filled dam, to be used as a tight anchoring base to the impermeable flexible membrane covering the upstream side of the earth dam.

2-18- Next, the impermeable flexible membrane is tightly anchored to the concrete base described in para. 2-1 7 and lifted over the water surface.

2-19- Following that, the earth is filled in between the already planted piles, protected by the already installed flexible membrane, gradually reducing the width of the watercourse until the full earth dam is in place.

2-20- To keep the earth dam dry, it will be useful to install through the dam transversal porous drain pipes draining towards the downstream area.

2-21- Besides, to prevent the downstream side of the earth dam from being washed away with the rain, it could be either: A- covered with an impermeable, flexible membrane.

B- covered with asphalt.

C- covered with grass and planted with trees to prevent the loose earth from being washed away with the rain.

2-22- For reversible dams with water on both sides of the dam it would be necessary to cover both sides of the dam with a continu ous flexible membrane having the lower part of the membrane made porous to allow the passage of eventual high pressure water in side the membranes but prevents the passage of loose earth, through its pores.

The loose earth, being heavier than water would precipitate and solidify through the years so forming a compact block around the planted piles scattered throughout the earth 'filled dam.

2-23- Upon reviewing the different alter natives so far described in this patent CFD2 and the previous patents CFD1 and RCFD, the analysis shows that by tilting the flexible water retaining wall to a certain degree in the upstream direction and by supporting the back of the flexible wall with cable beams so subdividing the one large arch of the flexible wall into smaller arches, the so-formed smaller arches of the flexible wall could be balanced to have the resultant forces acting along the direction of the anchoring ties tying the sup porting cable beams to the waterbed, so elimi nating the downward vertical component pre viously generated by the anchoring ties tilting downwards to the waterbed.

2-24- The result of this eliminates the need for the buoyants used in the previous patents CFD1 and RCFD. However, residual horizontal forces precipitate at the top part of the flexible wall, at the last leg of the curves.

2-25- By installing opposite flexible walls tilting upwards towards each other and re strained as already described, the residual forces of the opposite flexible walls, some times towards and sometimes away from each other get counterbalanced.

2-26- Such described water wall could be designed to resist also outside water pressure from either side.

2-27- The same idea applies for closed in circular container built on the same principle as the water wall described above.

3-ABBREVIATIONS AND KEY WORDS BW-Breakwater CFB-Canadian Flexible Breakwater CFD-Canadian flexible wall dams consisting of flexible, impermeable, inextensible plate supported at its upper end by a buoyant, a cable, a structure or the like.

CFD2-Commonwealth flexible wall dams consisting of flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall supported by fluid or loose solid substance arranged or contained in a statically stable structure to support the shielding flexible wall.

FTD-Flexible tunnel dikes.

FW-Flexible water barrier wall, made of flexible, impermeable, inextensible, reinforced plate FWT-Flexible wall tunnel FWWT-Flexible wall water tunnel PL-Drawing plate or sheet RCFD-Reversible Canadian flexible dams Sect.1/1-1 = section 1-1 taken on plate 1 Sect. 1-1 /22 = section- 1-1 detailed on plate 22 TS-Tunnel skin WBP-Water barrier flexible, impermeable, inextensible plate WL-Waterlock WT-Water tunnel WW-Water wall contained by flexible membrane wall. The term water is used to mean liquids as well. The terms air is used to mean gases as well. The term fluid is used to mean liquids or gas.

3-1 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION THROUGH THE DRAWINGS I- Plate 101 showing 2 plan views of different alternatives using flexible walls connected in a certain shape to isolate a mass of water, standing up across a river, lake, sea or the like playing the role of a solid wall dam to restrain the flow of water.

II- Plate 102 shows a waterwall cross section of the first plan view shown on plate 101, and describes the positioning of the water wall and the related accessories.

III- Plate 103 shows a water wall cross section of the second plan view shown on plate 101 with the positioning of the water wall and the related accessories.

In this cross section the water wall is installed in a way to create an outward pressure to balance the water pressure created by the retained water, in the same way as the stones of an arch push against each other to help holding each other in place.

IV- Plate 104 shows an alternative cross section of plan 1 shown on PL.101, for a generally trapezoidal shape, water retaining, water filled flexible tunnel that could be used to extend the height along the river banks and waterlocks and prevent the river water from overflooding outside the river channel.

V- Plate 105 shows an alternative plan of the design shown on PL.101, folded in a circular or other shape, modified to be usable for an adjustable swimming pool or the like.

VI- Plate 106 shows an adjustable curvaceous liquid reservoir similar to the one shown on PL. 105 except that the flexible water tunnel is made into sections installed at distances from each other and joined with a flat flexible membrane and by approaching the sections of the flexible water tunnels or putting them apart the size of the flexible reservoir is re duced or enlarged.

VII- Plate 107 shows a plan view of rubble fill wall supporting the flexible wall described on PL.-101.

VIII- Plate 108 shows a section view of a rubble wall supporting the flexible wall de scribed on PL.-101.

IX- Plate 109 shows a rubble fill all sup porting opposite flexible walls of the type described on PL. 101. This arrangement is used for reversible dams.

X- Plate 110 shows anchoring piers for the ties and the flexible wall used on PL.-101.

Xl- Plate 111 shows alternative piers used for anchoring the ties and the flexible wall shown on PL.-101.

XII- Plate 112 shows a curvaceous, tubu lar, longitudinal channel used for anchoring the ties and the flexible wall shown on PL.-101.

This curvaceous channel is embedded in the concrete platform capping the piers shown on PL.-110and 111.

Plate 112 is a repetition of a patented design by the inventor, called Canadian Flex ible Dams (CFD).

Xl II- Plate 113 shows a variety of water filled open and closed flexible structures with -different types of settings to support the flexi ble water barrier wall described in plate 1.

XIV- Plate 114 shows a continuous, water filled flexible tubular structure sitting on water filled flexible structures used as a shoe to the main tubular structure. The design shown on this plate is adaptable to be used as a river flood dike where the water could fill in the tube gradually as it overflows or that the water could be pumped inside the tubular structures to build up the flexible dike to a considerable volume, weight and height higher than what the river flood would reach so that the dike would be heavy enough to stand the flooding water pressure.

The wall of the tubular structure described on this plate plays the role of the water barrier front flexible plate described on plate 101.

XV- Plate 11 5 shows a continuous closed in fluid filled tubular structure using as well split fluid filled continuous shoe used to give better stability and larger base to the upper tubular structure. At the same time the shoe prevents the water from pushing the inner membrane under the main tubular structure and lifting it up.

This closed in tubular structure uses an inner water barrier plate as that described on plate 101 and counter balances itself due to its circular shape.

XVI- Plate 11 6 shows a design similar to plate 11 5 with a difference that it uses a continuous spiral tapered flexible fluid filled tubular structure rolled around in spiral shape building up one spiral roll over the other with the lowest roll beginning with the largest diameter and the top roll is tapered to the minimum diameter, which fact makes the cross section of the circular reservoir of a more stable trapezoidal shaped section.

The flexible tubular structure is as well provided with multi fluid filled tubular structure used as a shoe to the main tube to give it a better stability.

The manifold tubular rolls are tied up to each other at intervals to make them act as a one unit circular wall.

XVII- Plate 11 7 shows a concentric circular reservoir using continuous spiral fluid filled flexible tubular structure to support the water barrier front flexible wall described in plate 101.

This design uses internal and sometimes external transversal flexible walls to help the walls of the concentric reservoirs to stand up and prevent the reservoirs from side swaying one way or the other.

XVIII- Plate 118 shows a design similar to that of plate 11 7 with the difference that this design ends in a shape of a dome that could be covered with an external weather membrane in addition to the internal water barrier flexible wall described in plate 101. The domed concentric circular structure uses a skeleton frame that could be filled with a different fluid than the continuous circular spiral tubes rolled up to form the main walls of the reservoir.

This design could be better adapted to be used as inflated dwelling houses for extreme cold and extreme hot regions. The main skeleton tubular structure could be water filled to stand up first and give the outline shape of the dwelling and then the peripherical concentric spiral tubes could be air inflated next to have the final shape of the house.

Then an external waterproof weather membrane could be installed to cover the whole dome structure.

Provision could be made to have doors and window openings through the structure as required.

XIX- Plate 11 9 shows a fluid filled multiple piece flexible structure built in a brick laying shape forming an upright trapezoidal like cross section structure that supports the front water barrier flexible wall described on plate 101.

The trapezoidal cross section fluid filled flexible wall is set on a tilted base inclined against the upstream water pressure to give it a better advantage against the upstream water pressure.

The layers of flexible fluid filled tubular units, laid in different direction to each other could be interwoven with the upper and lower layers to give the trapezoidal shaped continuous wall a better bonding strength in itself.

XX- Plate 1 20 shows a trapezoidal like cross-section continuous fluid filled flexible wall supporting the water barrier front flexible wall described on plate 101.

This cross section is made of multi inner tubular fluid filled conduits stacked in rows over each other and tied to the upper and lower rows to form a stable trapezoidal shape core which is inserted into a larger tubular structure to hold the whole pile in shape. The outer tubular skin already described is tied internally at opposite sides in between the rows of the core to give the cross section a first and tight structure.

Such described design could be installed in sinusoidal shape to hold the water from upstream.

At the same time the continuous sinusoidal shape fluid filled structure could be mounted on a slanted base tilted against the direction of the upstream water to give it a better chance to resist the water pressure.

At the same time the base of the sinsusoidal wall could be anchored at its base to the waterbed and could be tied at its upper part with ties connecting it to fixed points upstream to make the whole structure stronger and firmer to resist considerable high waterhead.

This design of the multi tubular trapezoidal shaped flexible wall, if made continuous in a circular shape, it could be used as a liquid reservoir, a swimming pool etc.

Again this design on plate 1 20 is adaptable to be used as a river flood dike when provided with the accessories shown on plates 104 and 114.

The internal fluid filled flexible tubes are provided with individual vents and pressure relief devices.

XXI- Plate 121 shows a true water wall without major buoyants, supporting the outside water pressure, it consists of opposite restrained flexible walls anchored to the waterbed and tilted on top towards each other causing the internal water to lift them up.

XXII- PL.-122 shows a self supporting true water column using the impermeable, inextensible, front, flexible wall described on PL.-101 in a continuous way ending in a troncated, conic shaped, upright, water filled reservoir using outside circular rings to restrain its outer skin instead of the ties previously used for restraining the flexible wall supporting the water pressure.

3-2- DESCRIPTION OF NUMBERED COM PONENTS PLATE 101 No. 1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible cross reinforced wall made of rubber, rubberized material or the like, folded generally in a form of a closed trapeze to create a watertight, empty, longitudinal trapezoidal tunnel capable of holding a massive water inside it under pressure while conserving to a certain extent its original shape.

2- Flexible separation walls to create different, isolated, watertight components inside the tunnel described in no. 1.

3,4,5,6- Opposite cable beams supporting the flexible wall and transferring their loads to each other through internal ties across the water filled tunnel.

7,8- Ties connecting the opposite cable beams no. 3,4,5,6 to each other to help the flexible wall no. 1 conserving its shape when the tunnel is full of water.

9,10- Anchoring ties connecting the flexible wall water-filled tunnel no. 1 to fixed points upstream to prevent the water filled tunnel from sliding downstream when subjected to outside water pressure from upstream.

These anchoring ties are usually outside extensions to the inner ties no. 7,8.

11- Make up water pipe to compensate for any loss of water through the waterfilled tunnel to help keep constant water pressure inside the tunnel.

12- Sole of the closed in watertight tunnel, made of the same material as the flexible wall no. 1 itself. However, since the sole is usually supported by the waterbed itself and is not subjected to high stresses as the upper periphery of the flexible wall, the sole would need less reinforcement than the other part of the flexible tunnel.

13- Same as no. 1.

14- Same as no. 2.

1 5,16,1 7- Cable beams same as no.

3.4.5.6.

18,19,20-Transversal ties connecting the cable beam like no. 15, 1 6, 1 7 (same as no.

7,8).

21,22,23- Anchoring lines connecting the flexible wall tunnel to fixed points upstream (Same as no. 9,10).

24- Make up water pipe same as no. 11.

PLATE 102 No. 1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible cross reinforced wall made of rubber, rubberized material or the like, folded generally in a form of a closed trapeze to create a watertight, empty, longitudinal trapezoidal tunnel capable of holding a massive water inside it under pressure while conserving to a certain extent its original shape.

2- Flexible separation walls to create different, isolated, watertight compartments inside the tunnel described in no. 1.

3- Interior cable beams, same as no. 2.

4- Ties connecting the opposite cable beams to each other to help the flexible wall no. 1 conserving its shape when the tunnel is full of water.

5- Diagonal ties connecting the opposite cable beams diagonally to each other or to the base of the tunnel.

6- Anchoring lines connecting the flexible wall water filled tunnel no. 1 to fixed points upstream to prevent the water filled tunnel from sliding downstream when subjected to outside water pressure from upstream.

These anchoring ties are usually outside extensions to the inner ties connecting the opposite cable beams.

7- Water isolated inside flexible wall tunnel filling the tunnel to render the water filled tunnel to act as a solid structure.

8- Free water level outside the water filled tunnel.

9- Waterbed cut in a shape to make the solid like body of the water tuner fall in a trench with an inclination opposite to the direction of the water pressure acting on the tunnel.

10- Water make up conduit coming from a higher level to create a pressure higher than the pressure acting on the flexible wall water tunnel, due to the water pressure and to the tension in the anchoring cables etc.

11- Transversal continuous key lock to help preventing the sole of the tunnel from sliding or wrinkling due to the water pressure.

Besides, such key locks would help prevent water seepage underneath the sole of the flexible tunnel.

12- Inclined multi key locks to prevent the sole of the tunnel from sliding in one direction or the other.

These soles would be made in a way to prevent shearing the sole of the tunnel, which sole is also reinforced to resist such shearing.

13- Manhole to allow inspection and repair during the installation of the flexible wall tunnel. Similar manholes are installed at the top of the tunnel to allow inspection once the tunnel is water filled.

14- Pressure relief valve set to open once the water tunnel is pressurized over a certain pressure.

15- Vent at the top of the water tunnel to let out any air accumulating over the water surface inside the tunnel.

16- Terrace that could be built over the top curved surface of the tunnel to be used as operation platform or even a road passage over the water tunnel.

17- Tail of the flexible wall connecting the flexible wall tunnel to a firm and tight anchoring line parallel all along the tunnel.

18- Anchoring platform fastened to the waterbed generally with piles driven into the waterbed or as the case may require.

PLATE 103 No. 1- Flexible wall, waterfilled tunnel without sole at its base relying only on the tight anchorage at the base and the water make up supply to keep the water tunnel under a certain pressure. Besides, this water tunnel is installed in an unbalanced way to counterbalance the outside water pressure from upstream.

2,3,4- Internal transversal ties connecting cable beams from opposite sides of the tunnel.

5,6- Diagonal ties connecting the walls of the water tunnel to each other or to the base of the tunnel.

7,8- Downstream anchoring lines to prevent the unbalanced water tunnel from falling when there is no opposite water pressure from upstream.

9,10- Front anchoring lines to help keep the water tunnel in place against the outside water pressure from upstream.

11- Water make up conduit to keep the water pressure constant inside the water tunnel. This water has to be under pressure to counterbalance the outside water pressure and the pressure due to the anchoring cables etc.

12- Vent to let out the air accumulating inside the tunnel on the surface of the water.

1 3- Manhole.

14- Pressure relief valve.

15- Anchoring pier.

16,1 7- Watertight anchoring piers.

18- Water level upstream.

19- Water inside tunnel.

PLATE 104 No. 1- Flexible wall water tunnel.

2- Continuous tail of the flexible wall used to tightly and firmly anchor the water tunnel.

3,4- Cable beams on opposite sides of the flexible tunnel to help keep the tunnel in a certain upstanding shape when it is filled with water.

5- Tie lines connecting opposite cable beams to each other.

6- Diagonal ties connecting the opposite cable beams to each other or to the base of the tunnel.

7- Anchoring lines connecting the tunnel block to fixed points upstream to prevent the tunnel from being pushed away by the water pressure.

8- Anchoring block.

9- Air tube inflated before the tunnel is filled with water.

This air tube is used to contain a shallow water level on the river side to allow the rising river water to fill the water tunnel gradually through the inlet tubes no. 1 3 causing the inflated tube to keep floating pulling up with it the top skin of the tunnel.

10- Vent at the top of the water filled tunnel.

11- Manhole.

12- Pressure relief valve.

13- Water supply conduit.

14- Check valve mounted on the water supply conduit inside the water filled tunnel to prevent the water inside the tunnel from backing out.

15- Water level supposed to be the same inside and outside the water tunnel.

16- Air supply to air tube.

17- Compressed air inside air tube.

PLATE 105 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall made in a closed in tubular shape with restrained skin to form a trapezoidal cross section tunnel.

2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall used as the inner sole of a water filled continuous flexible wall tunnel.

3- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall used as the bottom floor of a water retaining reservoir.

This sole could be the extension of the sole no. 2.

4- Horizontal separation watertight flexible wall.

This intermediate flexible wall helps filling partially the flexible wall tunnel up to this horizontal separation wall, which fact makes the reservoir a height adjustable reservoir or swimming pool as is the case.

5- Cable beams at different heights of the flexible wall tunnel supporting the skin of the tunnel.

6- Ties connecting the opposite cable beams no. 5 to each other.

7- Vertical transversal flexible separation walls.

8- Vent to let out the air accumulating at the surface of the water inside the water tunnel.

9- Pressure relief valve to let out the water in case the water tunnel is subjected to excessive outside pressure.

10- Internal water level inside the water tunnel.

The flexible wall tunnel has to be totally filled with water to stand upright.

11- Liquid level in the open reservoir or swimming pool as the case may be.

PLATE 106 No. 1,2,3- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall made in a closed in tubular shape with restrained skin to form substantially trapezoidal cross section tunnels made of closed in curvaceous sections with the vertical, transversal, flexible walls, no. 14, that are installed along a circular path and joined with each other with a flexible, flat wall (like no.

13) of the same material to form altogether a closed in circular reservoir capable of holding water inside it.

4- Sole at the base of the flexible water tunnels.

5- Central sole covering the floor of the reservoir. It is usually the extension of the inner sole no. 4.

6- Horizontal separation watertight flexible wall.

This intermediate flexible wall helps filling partially the flexible wall tunnel up to the horizontal separation wall, which fact makes the reservoir a height adjustable reservoir or swimming pool as is the case.

7- Cable beams at different heights of the flexible wall tunnel and the vertical separation walls no. 14 restraining the skin of the tunnel.

8- Ties tying the opposite cable beams to each other.

9- Vent to let out the air accumulating at the surface of the water inside the water tunnel.

10- Pressure relief valve to let out the water in case the water tunnel is subjected to excessive water pressure.

11- Liquid inside the flexible water tunnel.

12- Liquid level inside the open reservoir or swimming pool as the case may be.

13- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall joining the flexible water tunnel sections to form a closed in reservoir.

14- Vertical, transversal, flexible, impermeable wall closing the sectional tunnels.

PLATE 107 No. 1-A reinforced, flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall.

2- Concrete pier used to anchor the flexible wall to the waterbed.

3- Loose earth and rubble accumulated in a structurally stable wall to support the flexible wall no. 1 that shields said rubble structure from the upstream water that could wash away the accumulated rubble.

4- Concrete or wooden piles or the like used to anchor the rubble wall no. 3 to the waterbed and help said rubble wall to stand up firm in place.

5- Drain pipes draining the water from the rubble wall towards the downstream area.

PLATE 108 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall tightly anchored to the waterbed and the remaining part of it is supported by loose earth or rubble structure that the flexible wall shields from being washed away by the upstream water retained by the said flexible wall.

2- Loose earth and rubble accumulated in a stable upstanding structure to support the flexible wall no. 1 that shields said rubble structure from the upstream water that could wash away the accumulated rubble.

3- Concrete or wooden piles or the like used to anchor the rubble wall no. 2 to the waterbed and help said rubble wall to stand up firm in place.

These piles are driven into the waterbed at an inclined direction opposite to the direction of the water from upstream and are left protruding high up before the rubble is dumped in to fill the area in between the said protruding piles.

4- Drain pipes installed through the rubble wall, to drain eventual water that could seep through the rubble, towards the downstream area.

5- Back cover covering the downstream side of the rubble wall to protect it from erosion due to rain water etc.

This cover could be: A- A flexible membrane cover.

B- Asphalt paving.

C- Green grass vegetation and trees to hold the earth in place.

6- Concrete platform capping rows of piles and provided with means to anchor the flexible wall no. 1 to the waterbed. For more details see PL.-1 10, PL.-1 11, PL.-112.

7- Water level at the upstream side of the dam.

PLATE 109 1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall tightly anchored at opposite ends to the waterbed at the opposite sides of the base of the rubble wall and the remaining part of it is supported by loose earth or rubble structure that the flexible wall shields from being washed away by the upstream water retained by the said flexible wall.

This arrangement is applicable for reversible dams.

In certain cases the flexible walls covering the opposite sides of the rubble wall are two separate flexible walls installed opposite to each other while in other cases the two flexible walls are interconnected to each other.

2- Earth fill and rubble piled in an upstanding stable-structure to support the flexible walls shielding the rubble pile from being washed away by the upstream water.

3,4- Concrete piles, wooden piles or the like driven into the waterbed in an inclined direction opposite to the direction of the water from upstream, and left protruding up high before the rubble is dumped in to fill the area between the said piles.

Since the dam in question is a reversible dam and has to support a waterhead alternatively from the two opposite sides, the piles in each half of the rubble wall are inclined towards the vertical center in opposite directions to each other.

5,6- Concrete platforms at opposite sides of the base of the rubble wall, capping rows of piles driven into the waterbed, with concrete joints to make a continuous underground, impermeable concrete wall to prevent water seepage underneath the rubble wall which could cause sliding of the said wall towards the downstream area.

The said concrete platforms are provided with means to ensure a tight anchorage of the flexible wall no. 1 to the waterbed. (For more details see Pal.110, PL.-111, PL.-112).

7- High water level or high tides, upstream area.

8- Low water level or low tides, downstream area.

9,10,11,1 1,12- Relief outlets allowing water inside the rubble wall to flow to areas of lower water pressure through the flexible wall no. 1 to avoid exerting pressure on the said flexible wall.

PLATE 110 No. 1-Centrnl core of the winged concrete pile.

2,3- Two opposite hollow extensions of the main core no. 1.

4- Concrete wings at opposite sides of the main core of the pile no. it 5- Right side, poured in place, concrete dish.

6- Left side, poured in place, concrete dish.

7- Poured in place, concrete plate passing through the main core no. 1 and joining the 2 concrete dishes no. 5 and 6 at a short distance above the base of the pile.

8,9- Nozzles at the bottom of the tubular core reinforcement (no. 2 and 3).

These nqzzles carry high pressure water to excavate the area at opposite sides of the pile.

The excavated earth is either pumped up or sucked up through the central core and then replaced by concrete, injected through either the central core or the secondary cores no. 1 and 2.

10- Concrete filling in between adjacent wings to create a watertight concrete wall below the pier and prevent water seepage underneath the foundation of the dam.

PLATE 111 No. 1-Concrete platform capping a series of piles (no. 2, 3 and 4) that anchors the platform to the waterbed.

At the same time, said concrete platform serves as a tight, anchoring pier on the waterbed to the lower part of the water retaining flexible wall no. 6.

2,4- Multi rows of piles with their lower ends converging towards each other.

Having the piles with wings adjacent to each other and driven at short distances from each other with their lower ends converging towards each other, it allows the opposite piles to clamp over a large mass of earth, which fact gives the sets of piles a much stronger anchorage to the ground and to pull up these piles we have to overcome: A- The skin friction forces acting on the piles.

B- The weight of the huge mass of earth trapped in between said piles.

3- Line of piles in between the piles no. 2 and 4 to have a better cohesion to the mass of earth clamped in between the rows of piles no. 2 and 4.

This setting helps us to increase the pulling out capacity of the piles without the complex operation of pouring concrete in place, underground, to create a larger cap at the bottom of the piles like in PL.-110, no. 8 and 9.

5- Curvaceous, continuous channel tightly and firmly anchored to the concrete platform no. 1 and serves to anchor the lower part of the water retaining flexible wall. (For more details, see PL.-112).

6- Water retaining flexible wall.

PLATE 112 No. 1-FW 2- Curvaceous, continuous, metallic tube made of relatively corrosion resisting material.

The wall of the curvaceous tube is made ondulated to offer a better grip to the FW.

3- Rubber lining over the tube or corrosion resistant cladding.

4- Reinforcing bars welded to the tube and to the flange, their role is to create bond between the tube shell and the concrete block.

5- Reinforcing flange plate welded around the tubc installed at intervals along the tube.

6- A dip in the bottom of the tube to allow place for excess of the FW.

7- Lop at end of FW (item 2) created by folding the tension reinforcement of the FW during manufacturing.

8- Round pieces of wood, plastic, metal or the like inserted inside the end of the FW through openings provided for them at intervals along the FW end. The combined role of no. 7 and no. 8 is to prevent the FW from slipping out from under the wooden blocks No. 9.

9- Longitudinal wooden, plastic, metallic blocks or the like that could be full trees cut longitudinally and inserted in the tube, the two side blocks first and finally the middle block that acts as a wedge between the two others and locks the FW tightly inside the tube.

10.- Concrete-the whole curvaceous tube is installed below the surface of the concrete platform at the pier.

11- Pin to hold middle block of wood in place.

12,13- Ties fastened to the bottom of the curvaceous tube and tightened at the top over the longitudinal blocks.

14- Bars joining the top of the ties no. 12, 13.

15- Longitudinal bars welded to the bottom of the curvaceous tube; their role is to hold the ties no. 12, 13 at the bottom of the tube.

16- Alternative folding of the tip of the flexible wall, in between the longitudinal blocks no. 9, to prevent the FW from slipping out.

PLATE 113 No. 1-Flexible wall anchored at its opposite ends, forming a longitudinal, water filled, closed tunnel.

Such structure could stand up as a solid block to support an upstream water pressure of a certain waterhead.

2,3- Watertight anchoring points of anchorage of the flexible wall no. 1 to the waterbed.

4- Flexible wall same as no. 1.

5- A flexible wall sole joining the opposite ends of the flexible wall no. 4 to prevent water leakage through the ground.

6,7- Points of anchorage of the flexible wall no. 4 to the waterbed.

8- Flexible wall same as no. 1.

9- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible separation wall to give more rigidity to the structure and reduce the stresses at the opposite anchoring points.

10,1 1-. Watertight anchoring points to the flexible wall no. 8.

12- Closed in curvaceous flexible wall similar to no. 1.

13- Anchoring line tying the flexible wall no. 1 2 to the waterbed.

14- Closed in curvaceous flexible wall similar to no. 1.

15,16- Two opposite closed, longitudinal, flexible walls that could be made generally of a tube closed in longitudinally to form two isolated attached smaller tubes.

The resulting structure is used as a shoe to the curvaceous tube no. 14.

The said opposite smaller tubes are equally filled of liquid or air as the case may be.

17,18- Anchoring points to the secondary tubes no. 15 and 16.

19- Belt like ties around the tube no. 14 connecting the joint structure to the waterbed.

20- Closed in curvaceous, flexible wall similar to no. 1.

21,22- Same as no.15,16.

23,24- Anchoring points to items no. 21 and 22.

25- Same as no. 19.

26- Water level.

Structure in Fig. 6 is sat inclined to give better resistance to the water pressure.

NOTE: A- All structures are liquid filled or air filled.

B- All structures are provided with vents and with pressure relief valves.

PLATE 114 No. 1-Continuous, flexible, tubular, fluid filled container used to retain a high waterhead acting directly on the skin of the tube or indirectly on a water barrier flexible wall resting on the skin of the said container.

The present design is adapted to be used as a river flood dike to contain the over flowing water.

2,3- Fluid filled curvaceous containers used as a shoe or a saddle to the container no. 1.

These two containers could be made of a flexible, tubular container with its skin joined or restrained at about its longitudinal center.

When such split, flexible, tubular container is laid flat underneath the main tubular container, then all the tubes are filled with water, the lower split tubes would serve as a saddle to the main tubular container, which saddle would give a larger base and a better stability to the main tubular container resting over it.

Such a saddle is tied or cemented to the main, tubular container above it.

The front section of the saddle (no. 3) at the upstream side is tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed.

4- Air filled flexible tube, which gives an edge to the main tube &num;1 to allow the flooding water to fill in the main tubes no. 1, 2, 3 without overcrossing them.

And while the main tube no. 1 is being filled with the flooding water, the air filled tube keeps floating at the surface of the water and pulls up with it the skin of the main tube #1 .

5- Water inlet hose to allow the flooding water to fill in the main tube &num;1.

6- Water inlet hose to fill in the saddle tube no. 2.

7- Water inlet hose to fill in the saddle tube no. 3.

8- Air inlet hose to the air filled tube no. 4.

9- Tail of the flexible tube no. 3 used to anchor the whole flexible structure tightly and firmly to the waterbed.

10- Water level on the upstream side.

NOTES: A- All feeding hoses are provided with check valves to prevent the water or air from backing up.

B- All units under pressure are provided with pressure relief valves.

C- If possible to install the whole structure on an inclined base tilting against the upstream water, to give the structure a better advantage to support the water pressure from upstream.

D- In certain cases, instead of gravity flow to fill in the flexible, tubular dike, the water is pumped into the tubes to raise the tubes to a level higher than the flood water could reach in order to give the dike a heavier weight to stand against the water pressure from upstream.

PLATE 115 No. 1-Flexible, inextensible, impermeable, tubular fluid filled container made continuous in a circular shape to contain fluid directly or indirectly inside the cylinder it so forms.

2,3- Fluid filled flexible tubular saddle used as a base to the main tube no. 1.

4- Impermeable, inextensible membrane covering the area formed inside the continuous tube no. 1 to make the so formed reservoir watertight.

5- Liquid level inside the reservoir.

6- Fluid substance inside the tube no. 1.

This substance is generally air or water.

PLATE 116 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall used as a water barrier to cover the area formed within the continuous spiral tubes.

2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible, fluid filled tube rolled around in a spiral way to build over each other, layer over layer, and form within the spiral a curvaceous container that could be used to contain liquid.

This tube is generally tapered with a large diameter at the beginning and a small diameter at its end, which fact makes larger spiral at the base and thinner spiral at the top layers to end with somehow a triangular cross section which shape gives a better stability to the curvaceous reservoir so formed.

3,4- Base saddle to the tube no. 2, made of generally a split tube to give better stability to the tube no. 2.

5- Straps holding the different spirals together in place.

6- Water level inside the so-formed reservoir.

PLATE 117 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible water barrier membrane covering the inner walls of the concentric reservoirs.

2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible fluid filled tubes rolled in a spiral way to build up layer over layer and form an upstanding curvaceous structure.

Multi concentric curvaceous structures are -built upright inside-each other and connected with transversal separation walls like no. 5 to give the whole structure a better stability.

3,4- Split tubular saddles used under and in between the flexible tubes no. 2 to give them a better standing with each other. Said tubular saddle is also fluid filled to give it the shape it is required to have.

5- Tubular, flexible fluid filled transversal separation walls used mainly to brace the peripherical walls of the structure.

Said separation walls could also be used to have different sorts of liquids in each compartment.

6- Liquid level in the outer compartment of the concentric reservoirs.

7- Liquid level in the inner compartment of the concentric reservoirs.

The walls of the inner compartment could be higher and with the higher liquid level.

8- Fluid substance that is generally water or air filling the flexible tubes.

PLATE 118 1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible fluid filled (generally water filled) tubes forming the outer skeleton of the inflated house.

2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible fluid filled (generally water filled) tube used as a base ring joining the upright tubes &num;1.

3- Inner upright skeleton similar to &num;1.

4- Tube joining the inner upright skeleton &num;3.

Item &num;4 is similar to item &num;2.

5- Fluid filled tubes joining the inner and outer skeleton at different levels.

6- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible fluid filled (generally air filled) tubes built over each other as separating walls in between the inner and outer skeleton and serve as well to brace the concentric skeletons and give them better stability.

7- Hardware cap joining the tubular skeletons &num;1,3.

8- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible fluid filled (generally air filled) tubes rolled in spiral shape over each other around the tubular skeleton #1.

9- Same as &num;8 except that they form the inner part of the double inflated wall structure.

10- Same as #8 except that it forms an inner concentric inflated wall inside the inflated house.

11- Window opening in the inflated wall structure.

12- Door opening in the inflated wall structure.

The inflated tubes are sealed and cut to form the openings required.

13- Hardware rings at different levels around the tubes #1 and 3 forming the main skeletons of the house.

14- Ties joining the tubes #1 and 3 of the main skeletons to keep them in place.

These ties generally connect to the rings -#13.

PLATE 119 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible, front water barrier membrane tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed and the remaining part of it is supported by the flexible built up water filled structure.

2- Strap around flexible wall no. 1.

3- Anchoring platforms to straps no. 2.

4- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible, fluid filled (generally water filled) longitudinal tubes built in brick laying patterns to form a stable trapezoidal upstanding structure used to support the water pressure acting on the front flexible wall no. 1.

5- Same as #4 except that it is laid transversally to 4t4.

6- Same as #4 except that it interlocks with lower and upper layers.

7- Water level on the upstream side.

PLATE 120 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible outer tube englobing inside it a series of smaller fluid filled tubes #2 built in rows over each other and strapped to each other to form an upstanding stable structure that could stand the outside water pressure acting on it.

2- Flexible tubes (see no. 1).

3- Straps tying the flexible tubes &num;2 to each other and the upper and lower rows of tubes to each other.

4- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall tightly and firmly connected at its upper end to the external, flexible tube &num;1 to form a tail of it and at its lower end connected to the waterbed through the platform &num;5.

5- Continuous, concrete platform used to anchor the item &num;4 to the waterbed.

6- Water level on the upstream side of the water filled flexible structure.

The flexible structure could be built higher enough over the water level to give the said structure a heavier weight, an advantage and a better stability to withstand the water pressure acting on it.

7- Anchoring ties connecting the upper parts of the flexible structure to fixed points upstream to give the said structure a better stability.

8- Fluid substance (generally water) filling the flexible tubes.

PLATE 121 No. 1,2-Opposite, flexible, impermeable, inextensible, reinforced plates sat upright to contain within them a true water wall without a substantial buoyant to support them.

3- Anchoring line at the base of the flexible wall no. 1.

4- Anchoring line at the base of the flexible wall no. 2.

5- Ties anchoring intermediate points of the flexible wall no. 1 directly or indirectly to the waterbed.

6- Ties anchoring intermediate points of the flexible wall no. 2 directly or indirectly to the waterbed.

7- Anchoring platforms to the ties no. 5.

8- Anchoring platforms to the ties no. 6.

9- Upper ties tying the top of the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

10- Water level inside the opposite flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

11- Water level outside one or both of the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

In the case of tidal powers, different water levels could be outside the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

12- Middle posts or continuous walls (not shown) could be used to tie the ties no. 5 and 6, without bringing them down to the waterbed.

PLATE 122 No. 1-Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall rolled in a circular way to end in an upright troncated conic shape with a watertight flexible sole (like no. 2) at its base and outside horizontal rings (like no. 3) to restrain the outer skin of the so-formed water column to assume the required shape when filled with water.

2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane that makes part of the water column skin (like no. 1).

3- Horizontal rings supporting the outer skin of the water column at different levels to have it assume the required shape needed to balance the water pressure acting on the conic shaped skin of the water wall in order to eliminate the residual downward components generated by the water pressure.

4- Transversal ties tying the rings no. 4 to reduce the stresses on them.

5- Additional, internal, diagonal ties to add to the stability of the water column and prevent it from swaying in one direction or the other.

These ties are arbitrary and could be replaced by external ties.

6- Top ring joining the upper edges of the water wall skin and balancing the upper residual stresses on the skin.

7- Water level inside the conic shape, self standing water column.

4- DETAILS The present invention deals with combined interrelated adjoint inventions dealing with flexible wall dams, flexible wall waterlocks, flood control flexible retaining walls, flexible liquid reservoirs etc. generally referred to hereinafter as Commonwealth flexible wall dams and abbreviated as CFD2, using in combination: (See chapter 4, 5, 6).

4-1- (see PL.102) A flexible, impermeable, inextensible, cross reinforced flexible wall folded and joined to form a watertight, closed in, hollow structure capable of retaining pressurized liquid inside it.

4-2- The hollow tubular structure described above (see no. 1) is reinforced longitudinally with cable beams (see no. 2, 3) to support the skin of such a tubular structure.

4-3- Said cable beams are then connected internally through the tubular structure with transversal ties like no. 4, 5 that connect the opposite cable beams to each other in a way to form a generally trapezoidally shape cross section tunnel with its larger dimension at the base of the trapezoidal tunnel to give a better stability when said tunnel is filled with liquid.

4-4- At the same time the cable beams are interconnected with diagonal ties like no. 5 to each other and to the base of the tunnel to give better rigidity when said tunnel is internally filled with liquid and is subjected to outside water pressure.

4-5- Such water filled, skin restrained flexible wall block would act as a perfect solid wall dam.

The heavy weight at the base of the tunnel and the large area of the tunnel base would prevent the water filled tunnel from sliding due to the external water pressure acting on the dam, specially if said tunnel rests in an already prepared ditch, with a slant opposite to the water pressure direction below the level of the waterbed, with key locks like no. 11, 1 2 interfering with the sole of the tunnel, to prevent said sole from sliding or folding.

4-6- Such flexible sole tunnel may not need a foundation due to the fact, that if the water tends to seep on the soft ground below the sole of the tunnel, the flexible sole of the tunnel would curve to fill any hole opened by the seeping water and the weight of the water filled tunnel and the width of its base would prevent it from jumping out of the ditch due to the external water pressure acting on the tunnel block from upstream.

4-7- Furthermore, the resultant of the water pressure acting on the trapezoidal shape tunnel block would fall inside the middle third of the base of the tunnel which fact reduces the tendency of the tunnel block to slide downstream.

4-8- Additional anchoring ties (like no. 6) could be added to connect the tunnel block to fixed points upstream to give additional strength to the tunnel block against the water pressure from upstream.

4-9- (See PL.103) In certain cases the cross section of the water tunnel is made in an unbalanced shape tilting towards the upstream so that when the external water pressure of the dam acts against the tilting tunnel block, it balances the gravity forces of the tilting tunnel block in the same way as the adjacent stones of an arch act against each other to balance their opposite forces and create an equilibrium.

4-10- If the soil of the waterbed is of clay nature, it is possible to have the water tunnel without continuous flexible sole at its base relaying on the clay waterbed and on the tight anchoring foundation like no. 1 6, 1 7 to prevent water losses from inside the water tunnel.

4-11- To compensate for occasional water losses inside the water tunnel, the top of the water tunnel is connected to a water make up conduit (like no. 11) to keep the water tunnel always full and under certain pressure.

Due to the effect of the anchoring ties acting on the water tunnel block, the water pressure inside the water tunnel could be higher than the water pressure outside the water tunnel by an average equivalent to ten or twenty metres waterhead.

Consequently, the make up water should be at a pressure slightly higher than the pressure inside the water tunnel itself.

4-12- A controlled vent is installed at the top of the tunnel (like no. 1 2) to let out the air accumulating at the water surface inside the tunnel.

4-13- Manholes are installed at the lower and upper parts of the tunnel, (like no. 13) to allow for inspection and repair.

4-14- The tunnels are provided with pressure relief valves, (like no. 14) to let out water when the water pressure inside the tunnel rises over a certain value.

4-15- (See PL.104) Apart from large dams the water walls idea could be applied to build temporary, flexible, portable dikes to be used to control river floods and replace the heavy sandbags used up till now.

4-16- Plate 104 shows a flexible water tunnel basically similar to the water tunnels shown on PL.-102, PL.-103 with some additional features needed for the operation of the flexible tunnel dikes.

4-17- The flexible tunnel dike is provided with an air inflated tube, (like no. 9) at the top of the tunnel used to: A- To create a basic edge at the riverside to stop the water from overpassing the empty flexible tunnel spread all along the river bank and at the same time retain a shallow layer of water in front of the dike to allow enough water to get into the empty water tunnel through the priming conduits (like no. 13).

B- By floating atthe surface of the water, the air filled tube helps pulling up with it the top of the tunnel and keeps the inlet of the priming conduits and the area around them well open.

4-18- The priming conduits are provided with check valves inside the water tunnel to prevent the water inside the tunnel from backing out in case the water tunnel is subjected to additional external pressure other than the overflowing water of the river.

4-19- The operation of the flexible dike tunnel is as follows: A- When a river starts to overflow its banks, instead of bringing sandbags and piling them all along the river bank, the empty flexible wall tunnel is brought in perhaps in a large roll, and unrolled along the river bank in sections that are later connected to each other.

B- The continuous, watertight tail at the base of the flexible water tunnel, (like no. 2) is then spread and pressed against the ground by means of longitudinal bars that are either pinned through the sand or, in the case of concrete river bank, these longitudinal bars are fastened to the concrete by means of ramsets or the like to prevent the overflowing water from seeping underneath the empty flexible water tunnel. However, when the water tunnel is full of water its weight would prevent the overflowing water from seeping underneath its sole.

At the same time the tail of the tunnel serves to anchor the base of the tunnel and help preventing it from sliding downstream due to the overflowing water pressure.

C- Then the air tube, (like no. 9) is inflated which fact creates a little edge to stop the overflowing water from crossing over the empty flexible water tunnel.

D- The water inlet conduits, (like no. 13) are spread out through the overflowing water to allow water intake into the empty water tunnel.

E- The overflowing water would start filling the empty flexible water tunnel so that the water level inside the tunnel will be constantly the same as outside the tunnel while the air inflated tube keeps floating over the surface of the water while keeping an edge of the tunnel higher than the surface of the water.

The level of the water rises inside and outside of the tunnel in a way that when the water pressure outside the tunnel increases, the weight of the tunnel increases with it and increases the firmness capacity of the water tunnel to withstand the outside water pressure acting on it.

4-20- (See Pl.-105) Another application of the flexible water tunnels' idea is in the construction of closed in circular reservoirs or the like. If the flexible wall tunnel is made continuous (see no. 1) in a circular shape or the like the geometry of the circular, flexible water tunnel would help the forces due to the liquid pressure, accumulated inside the said reservoir, balance each other.

4-21- Section 1-1 on PL.-105 shows typical continuous flexible water tunnel built on the same principles as the previous flexible tunnels described on Pl.-101 to 104.

4-22- The difference in the flexible wall tunnel shown on Pl.-105 is: A- The FWT shown on Pl.-105 is a closed in, continuous tunnel made in a circular shape which fact makes the outside water pressure acting on the skin of the tunnel block counter balance itself-from all around the internal periphery of the circular formed reservoir and creates an equilibrium.

B- The circular reservoir is provided with an additional horizontal separation membrane (like no. 4) which gives the choice to have a circular reservoir with adjustable height as the case may require.

4-23- The floor of the circular reservoir could be made as the extension of the sole of the circular FWT or it can be made of an independent membrane thrown over the top of the reservoir while the weight of the water would make it fall in the hole inside the circular tunnel, with the outside border of the membrane extending all around over the top of the flexible wall tunnel.

4-24- Pl.-106 shows an adjustable liquid reservoir applicable as well to an adjustable, flexible swimming pool made of sectional, flexible water tunnels, (like no. 1, 2, 3) joined together generally in a circular shape by means of flat, flexible walls (like no. 1 3) joining the different FWT sections.

4-25- By approaching the FWT sections to each other, the overall diameter of the reservoir is reduced and by spreading apart the FWT sections, the overall diameter of the liquid reservoir gets larger.

4-26- At the same time the FWT sections have horizontal separation membranes at different heights where the FWT sections could be filled up to the level of the horizontal separation walls which fact produces generally a circular reservoir of half or two third height etc. of its total possible height.

4-27- In order words this arrangement produces a liquid reservoir adjustable in width as well as in height of the reservoir.

Besides, such a reservoir could be also adjustable in shape to be sometimes circular and sometimes as the location requires.

5- EARTH STUFFED FLEXIBLE WALL TUN NELS (See Prior Art, chapter 2-1 3 to 2-22).

5-1- With the increase in the waterhead inside the water-filled flexible wall tunnels described in chapter 4, the water pressure at the base of the tunnel becomes too high and too costly to sustain.

5-2- Consequently, the water inside the trapezoidal cross section tunnel is replaced with earth that has an angle of repose and does not transmit lateral pressure from the top of the earth wall to its base, but for this end the flexible wall tunnel and the earth wall is redesigned to suit the characteristics of the earth material itself.

5-3- PL.-108 shows a generally trapezoidal cross section earth wall dam (see no. 2).

The earth wall is covered on the upstream side with a continuous, flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane (like no. 1) tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed (see no. 6) through a solid, continuous, concrete, substantially watertight wall (like no. D 1) driven to a certain depth in the waterbed to prevent water seepage underneath the earth filled wall dam.

Besides, the continuous concrete wall anchoring base, to the flexible membrane is also reinforced with a continuous, high tensile, steel wire cable (not shown) all along the base of the dam to prevent the sliding down of a section of the dam under the water pressure from upstream.

5-4- Since, unlike water, the earth filled wall dam has an angle of repose and while dry, it stays solid by itself, then the flexible wall membrane does not need to wrap both sides of the earth filled dam.

The role of the impermeable, flexible wall here is to isolate the earth wall dam from the water mainly on the upstream side, to prevent the water from seeping through the earth dam, melting the loose earth and gradually washing away the whole earth dam.

Consequently, the flexible, impermeable membrane covers the earth wall dam mainly on the upstream side while the downstream side of the earth wall is protected against earth erosion by different other means.

5-5- To give the earth filled wall dam some anchorage to the waterbed, staggered rows of piles (like no. 3) are driven in the waterbed all along the dam line before the earth is brought in to fill the dam site. Such piles are left protruding up through the earth filled wall to be. Apart from this, said piles are inclined at a certain angle against the water pressure direction to give a better resistance to the earth dam unit.

5-6- Besides, to prevent the earth fill from being washed away, soon they are dumped, the flexible, impermeable wall is tightly anchored to the continuous, concrete wall base on the upstream side of the dam before the earth is dumped to form the earth wall dam.

Next, the earth filling is dumped in between the already planted rows of piles, gradually narrowing the opening of the watercourse until the full dam is built.

5-7- To keep the earth's dam dry, porous drain pipes (like no. 4) are installed transversally through the dam, draining their water towards the downstream area.

5-8- For reversible dams, like in the Fundy Bay tidal power project where the water is supposed to be on both sides of the dam, the flexible, impermeable wall has to cover completely both sides of the earth's dam.

At the same time, the flexible wall has to be porous at the base of the dam, to allow eventual high pressure water to pass through the pores while keeping the loose earth inside the flexible walls.

5-9- The staggered rows of piles planted inside the earth wall dam have to be inclined at opposite directions to each other, considering a generally trapezoidal cross section of the earth wall, the piles on each side of the vertical center line of the trapeze are inclined towards the center line of the trapeze which makes each half of the piles inclined against the opposite half so giving the earth wall dam a solidarity in both directions against the water pressure that could come alternatively from either side of the dam.

5-10- Since the earth fill has a heavier gravity than water, the earth fill of the dam would gradually precipitate and solidify in between the planted piles and would make a dam more solid and more compact as the time goes by.

5-11- An additional make up layer of earth could be needed at the surface of the dam as the earth fill precipitates through the depth of the earth wall dam.

5-12- This arrangement combines the solidity and the low cost of the earth fill dams with the impermeability and the low cost of the little reinforced, simply spread flexible wall covering the earth fill dam, to replace costly, time consuming concrete dams.

6-1- To develop a strong anchorage to the waterbed especially when the subsurface of the waterbed is a soft ground where the normal piles could not develop strong skin friction with the ground, new methods are developed to give higher anchorage strength to the piers anchoring the water retaining flexible wall and to the ties supporting said water retaining flexible wall.

6-2- PL.-110 shows a concrete pile composed of a central core no. 1 with multi reinforcing smaller cores at opposite sides (like no. 2 and 3) that are used to pass water jet hoses and with opposite wings (like no. 4) stretching at opposite sides of the central core which wings, when the adjacent piles are driven into the ground, would overlap with the wings of the adjacent pile leaving an earth fill column (like at no. 10) in between the adjacent wings.

6-3- This earth fill column is excavated out by means of a drill or with a high pressure water jet and sucked out by means of a centrifugal pump mounted at the bottom of a suction hose or by means of one high pressure air hose beside a vacuum hose etc. and then the earth column is replaced with a fresh concrete column (see no. 10) poured in between the overlapping concrete wings.

The fresh concrete joint no. 10 in between the adjacent overlapping wings no. 4 makes a watertight, vertical joint all along the length of the adjacent piles and consequently a continuous watertight wall deep into the ground to the bottom of the piles themselves which continuous wall would insure water tightness and prevent any water leakage underneath the concrete platform (like no. 1, PL.-106).

6-4- To increase the bonding capacity of the piles with the ground, a special flaring concrete cap is added at the bottom of the pile after the piles has been driven into the ground.

This is done by: A- Washing away the earth inside the centralcore of the pile no. 1, same procedure as in para. 6-3.

B- Injecting high pressure water jet through outlets provided at the bottom of the pile to excavate and create a hollow area about the bottom of the pile.

C- Taking out the washed away earth by means of a centrifugal pump or a suction hose.

D- Pouring concrete through the central or the side cores to fill the excavated space which fact creates a large flared concrete cap (like no. 5, 6, and 7, PL.-110) at the bottom of the piles that increases the anchorage of the pile to the ground and consequently increases the pulling out capacity of the pile.

6-5- A concrete platform is poured on top of the piles to join the whole line of piles and serves at the same time to anchor the water retaining flexible wall to the ground.

6-6- See PL. 1 1 1- The use of concrete cap poured underground at the bottom of the piles to increase the anchorage capacity of the piles as described on PL.-110, is a complex and costly operation.

PL.-111 uses a simple and more efficient method to ensure strong anchorage of the concrete platform no. 1 to the ground.

6-7- PL. 1 1 uses similar rows of piles as described in PL.-1 10.

The said rows of piles (like no. 2 and 4) are driven in the ground with their lower ends tilted towards each other which fact makes the opposite rows of piles like twd jaws closing towards each other and clamping over a large mass of earth that to pull the opposite rows of piles one has to overcome: A- The skin friction forces holding the piles to the ground.

B- And the weight of the huge mass of earth trapped in between the opposite rows of piles.

6-8- The rows of piles no. 3 is there to give a better hold between the rows of piles and the earth.

6-9- The platform no. 1 capping the rows of piles is given a certain thickness to give a better hold on the tilted rows of piles.

At the same time, said platform houses a continuous, curvatious channel (like no. 5) that is used to anchor the water retaining flexible wall no. 6 or to anchor the-ties holding the said water retaining flexible wall.

6-10- This setting insures a continuous, watertight, deep, concrete wall below the concrete platform and a strong anchorage of the said platform to the ground.

7- FLUID FILLED, FLEXIBLE, CURVACE OUS STRUCTURES SUPPORTING THE WATER PRESSURE.

7-1- Chapter 4 uses flexible, fluid filled, tubular structures with restrained skins by means of cable beams and internal ties to give the fluid filled structure an upstanding stable somehow trapezoidal cross section to support the water pressure acting on said structure.

7-2- The use of straps and cable beams transferring their loads through the flexible membrane to transversal ties all along the structure, adds too much to the cost of the structure and creates many problems and requires continuous maintenance.

7-3- The simplest way to create a solid like body from fluid and flexible container is to use a plain circular container; spheric, cylindrical, tubular or the like.

7-4- (See PL.-113) PL.-1 13 shows different alternatives of flexible structures using the minimum or no transversal ties transferring the stresses across the flexible skin of the structure.

7-5- Fig. 1 shows a curvaceous flexible wall (no. 1) tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed at its opposite ends (see no. 2, 3) and fully inflated with water to stand up where it could support a certain external waterhead acting on it.

7-6- To insure a better tightness and prevent the water escaping through the ground, an additional watertight sole is added in between the anchoring points 1, 2 to make the waterfilled structure watertight where it could be filled with air instead of water in certain cases. (See Fig. 2).

7-7- (See PL.-1 13, Fig. 3) To give a better rigidity to the fluid filled, flexible structure, an additional longitudinal, internal membrane is added (see no. 9) inside the fluid filled tube to reduce the stresses on the flexible wall (no. 8) and on the anchoring lines (no. 10 and 11).

7-8- (See Fig. 4) Fig. 4 shows a continuous, tubular, fluid filled structure (no. 12) anchored in place by means of straps rolled over the tubular structure and anchored at their opposite ends or by means of tail attachment connected to the skin of the tubular structure at its upper end and tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed at its lower end.

7-9- (See Fig. 5) Fig. 5 shows a closed in flexible, tubular, fluid filled struture no. 14 resting on a fluid filled saddle made of multi fluid filled tubular structures no. 15, 16 which give stability to the main tubular structure resting on them.

The split tubular structure forming the saddle is tightly anchored at its opposite ends (see no. 17, 1 8) to the waterbed to give solidarity to the whole structure with the ground.

Finally the whole structure is strapped with belts wrapped around the structure and anchored at their opposite ends to the waterbed.

7-10- (See Fig. 6) To give a better advantage to the structure shown in Fig. 5 against the external water pressure, the whole structure shown in Fig. 5 is installed on a slanted base, tilted against the external water pressure, which fact gives an advantage to the structure to resist the external water pressure acting on it.

7 - 1 1 - (See PL.-1 13, Fig. 6, PL. 114 and 104) PL.-1 14 shows a flexible, impermeable, inextensible tubular fluid filled structure resting on a fluid filled saddle and adapted to be used as a river flood dike to contain the flooding water.

The design on PL.-1 14 is the same as described on PL.-1 13 Figs. 5 and 6 and is operated as already described for the design on PL.-104 (See P.39 para.4-15).

The advantage of the design on PL.-1 14 over the design on PL.-104 is that it saves the use of cable beams, straps and transversal ties which add to the cost and complexity of the structure. However, to reinforce the large tubular structure shown on PL.-1 14, the flexible tube could be either reinforced with transversal, internal ties like no. 11 or strapped with spiral straps like no. 1 2 to reinforce the main tubular structure against high internal water pressure acting on it.

7-12- (See PL.-115) PL.-1 1 5 shows a design similar to the design on PL.-114 except that the flexible, tubular structure (no. 1) on Pl.-1 1 5 is made continuous, closed in to form a circular structure with an empty hole in the middle that could be used as a liquid reservoir, a portable swimming pool, etc.

The hole inside the closed in tubular structure is covered with a flexible, impermeable membrane (like no. 4) to make it watertight, able to hold water without seepage through the base of the so-formed reservoir and with precautions to avoid the water to push under the tubular structure and lift it up.

The so-formed liquid reservoir does not need lateral supports to prevent it from sliding one way or the other since the water pressure inside the hole, acting outward on the liquid filled tubular structure, counterbalances itself all around the reservoir.

7-13- (See PL.-116) PL.-116 shows a continuous, closed in, circular structure similar to the design shown on PL.-1 1 5 except that the design on PL.-116 uses a tapered, flexible, tubular structure rolled in spiral way, layer over layer, rolled over each other to create a hole inside the circle which hole could be made watertight by different means, one of them is by being lined with a flexible, impermeable membrane (like no. 1).

When such reservoir is filled with water the water pressure acting outward on the soformed circular container counterbalances itself from all around the area inside the container.

-Such type of container could be made higher than the design described on PL.-1 1 5 and by tapering the tubular structure (like no.

2), forming the reservoir, the lower layers of the spiral would be larger diameter and the upper layers of the spiral would be of a smaller diameter, a fact which makes the cross section of the wall of the reservoir end somehow in a trapezoidal shape that gives a better stability to the structure to stand upright.

7-14- The spiral folds rolled over each other are tied together with straps (like no. 5), to make the spiral stand upright better and react as one piece wall.

7-15- (See PL.-1 17) PL.-117 shows concentric reservoirs built of flexible, impermeable, inextensible, fluid filled tubes (like no. 2), rolled in spiral way, layer over layer, to form upright concentric reservoirs that are stiffened by means of additional separation walls (like no. 5) made also of fluid filled tubular pieces.

The so-formed structure is covered with a water retaining flexible wall (like no. 1).

Such concentric reservoirs could hold water without anchoring ties due to the fact that the stiffening walls and the way it is installed with its concentric curvaceous reservoir help keep the whole assembly in stability.

The outward water pressure on the walls of the reservoir counterbalance each other from all directions.

7-16- The fluid filled, continuous, flexible tubes are provided with tubular saddles to give them a better standing stability.

7-17- The flexible, spiral tubes are connected to the transversal, stiffening walls (like no. 5) to help keep the upright concentric reservoirs in a firm position.

The rows of flexible, spiral tubes are also strapped to each other to keep them in place The advantage of this design over the design shown on plate 115, 11 6 is that it is possible to build a taller reservoir with less material and less weight than is the case with the design shown on plate 115, 11 6.

It is as well possible to subdivide the concentric reservoir, to be used for different types of liquids.

Besides it is also possible to have the concentric reservoirs contain different levels of liquids.

7-18-1- See PL.-118 PL.-118 shows a multipurpose structure, similar in a way to the design shown on PL.-117, with a difference that the design on PL.-118 is built with a main skeleton made of upright, flexible, impermeable, inextensible, fluid filled, tubular posts (like no. 1), mounted around a curvaceous path and joined at their base with a similar, flexible, curvaceous ring beam (like no. 2) joining all the upright posts to each other.

7-18-2- The said upright posts converge towards each other at their upper ends to close in together to one spot where they are joined with a common header cap (like no. 7) ending the structure in a form of a dome which fact gives the total structure a certain strength to resist super imposed loads like snow for example over its domed roof.

7-18-3- Similar concentric skeletons are built inside each other like no. 3, 4 joined together at their base and at different levels with similar, tubular sections (like no. 5) to stiffen said structures and closed in at their top to a main header cap to increase the carrying capacity of the dome cover.

7-18-4- The skeletons so described are covered with similar flexible, impermeable, inextensible, fluid filled (generally air filled') tubes (like no. 8, 9, 10) rolled over each other in a spiral way around the skeleton posts all the way up to cover the whole dome formed by the concentric skeletons.

These spiral inflated tubes are tied to each other and to the skeleton posts.

7-18-5- The outer skeleton is covered with multi spiral walls, on the outer and inner face of the upright tubular posts no. 1 to leave an air gap between the outside walls and keep the inside of the structure better sheltered from extreme outside atmospheric high and low temperatures. The inside skeleton, no. 3, 4 is also covered with inflated spiral tubes all around.

7-18-6-The concentric, curvaceous, upright structures so-formed are stiffened with transversal, inflated, tubular walls which serve also to subdivide the so-formed structure into different compartments.

7-18-7- The.whole domed structure is covered with an impermeable, flexible cover to prevent the rain from seeping through and protect the interior structure from atmospheric effects.

7-18-8- At the same time the interior part of the dome covered concentric structure is lined with a flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane in each of its compartments including the floors of said structure.

7-18-9- Such structure as already described could be used to contain-liquid or gas in each of its compartments by providing it with inlet and outlet hoses and with the additional needed accessories.

7-18-10- On the other hand the above described structure could be provided with doors and window. openings in its different compartments and it could be better used as human dwellings and offices or factories and it would be specially useful for hot weather climate and better useful for arctic climate where, in winter, the water inside the tubular skeleton could freeze and form a solid skeleton to support the heavy snowfall that could pile up on the dome of the structure, and since the tubular skeleton is of flexible material, it would expand to accommodate the expanding ice inside-them-with no harm-to the fabric of the tubes.

7-18-11- In other words such a structure could replace the historic igloo of the north where it could stand as a-summer/winter - portable arctic residence that could perhaps be better called the Canadian flexible igloos of the 20th century.

However since these kind of dwellings could be equally favourable in hot weather countries as well, they would be called commonweath inflated dwellings abbreviated as (CID).

7-19-1- See PL.-119 PL.-119 shows a built up wall made of flexible, impermeable, inextensible, water, filled, tubular sections made in rows in a bricklaying pattern, some are in a longitudinal way (like no. 4) while others are in a transversal pattern (like no. 5) with sections (like no.

6) interlocking between the lower and upper layers.

7-19-2- The water filled tubular sections are assembled in a way to form a longitudinal wall with somehow trapezoidal cross section, which wall has to support the front water retaining flexible wall no. 1 and through it support the upstream water pressure.

7-1 9-3- The front flexible wall no. 1 serves as well to wrap up the sections of the wall and help them to keep in the desired shape.

7-19-4- At the same time the front flexible wall is kept in place by means of straps (like no. 2) rolled over the front flexible wall and anchored at its opposite ends to the waterbed (see no. 3).

7-19-5- The front flexible wall (like no. 1) is firmly and tightly anchored to the waterbed at the base of the supporting flexible wall on the upstream side of the structure.

7-19-6- The whole flexible trapezoidal wall is built on a slanted base tilted against the direction of the upstream water to give the structure a better advantage to support the upstream water pressure.

7-19-7- At the same time the so described flexible wall could be installed in a sinusoidal shape to distribute the direct water pressure on a larger area of the supporting wall and convert such a part of such a pressure sideways tending to close the legs of the sinusoidal arches towards each other.

7-19-8- To resists these stresses described in para. 7-1 9-7 the back of the sinusoidal horizontal arches are connected with continuous ties (not shown) tying them to each other to keep them in place.

7-20-1-See PL.-120 PL.-120 shows an upstanding, longitudinal, flexible water filled wall with somehow a trapezoidal cross section to give a better structural stability to the wall.

This wall is similar to the wall described on PL.-119 with the difference: A- That the rows of the tubular sections (like no. 2) forming the wall are all or most of them laid in a longitudinal way with straps like no. 3 joining the tubes of each row together and similar straps tying the rows to each other.

B- Instead of the outer flexible wall, on PL.-119 wrapped around the tubular sections to keep them in place, the design on PL.-120 uses alternatively a large, tubular section (like no. 1) to englobe the smaller tubular sections.

This design makes the whole assembled wall independent and portable which fact makes it usable for different purposes namely; for a portable flood water dike, for a swimming pool, portable reservoir, for dikes around chemical reservoirs, for secondary dikes around containers of radioactive liquids, etc.

7-20-2- This design bypasses the problem of restraining the water filled flexible tubes with transversal ties through the flexible skin of the tube, in order to assume a trapezoidal shape cross section, which fact requires continuous maintenance to prevent leakage at the connection spots.

By using smaller diameter tubes piled over each other and strapped together we could set such tubes to assume the required cross section shape.

Besides in the case of one membrane flexible wall it would be necessary to reinforce the whole area of the water retaining flexible wall with the same reinforcement (for practical reasons) while the heavy reinforcement is only required at the lower part of the dam where the water pressure is at its maximum.

7-20-3- By using smaller diameter pieces stacked over each other, the lower rows of water filled tubes are subjected to higher pressure while this pressure decreases in the upper rows of-tubes. Apart from this, the tubes with smaller diameters could bear high water pressure much easier than larger diameter tubular structures.

7-20-4- The so-described, flexible, composite, water filled structure inserted into a larger, tubular section could be covered on the upstream side with a front water retaining flexible wall like in the design on PL.-119 or that the outer tube is used itself-as a water retaining flexible wall with an additional, impermeable, continuous strip at its upstream base, firmly connected to the skin of the outer tube at its upper end and the lower part of said strip would be tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed.

7-20-5- This water filled, composite flexible wall could be installed on a slanted base and in a sinusoidal pattern as shown in the plan on PL.-120 with additional ties (like no.

9) tying the back of the horizontal arches to keep said arches in place and anchoring ties tying parts of the wall to fixed points upstream.

7-20-6- The above mentioned waterfilled composite flexible wall could be provided with the same accessories used on the design shown on plates 104 and 114, to be used as a flood water dike along the river banks etc.

(See para. 7-20-1-B).

7-20-7- At the same time the composite flexible wall could be made continuous in the same way as the design shown on pl.-l 05 and 115, where it could be adapted to be used as a circular reservoir, a swimming pool, a curvaceous dike around tanks containing chemical liquids or radioactive liquids etc.

7-20-8- To assemble such composite flexible wall: A- Inflate with air the internal tubes, each row separate and apply-the straps around them where necessary; first each row separate, then strap the rows of each other to assume the required cross section shape.

B- Deflate the internal tubes and insert them-through the outer major tube.

7-20-9- It is available to have the flexible, waterfiled structure higher than the water level it supports. This gives heavier weight to the supporting wall to better stand the exterior water pressure.

7-21- 1-See-PL.-121- TRUE WATER WALLS PL.-1 21 shows opposite, impermeable, inextensible, flexible walls (like no. 1, 2) containing water in between them and installed in a balanced way that would allow them to retain a water wall in between them and support an external waterhead without the need of a substantial buoyant to support them at the surface of the water.

7-21-2- Upon reviewing the designs in CFD1 where the water retaining flexible wall was substantially inclined against the upstream water to have the flexible wall ride over the water, using the water underneath it as a saddle and converting the water pressure from the horizontal direction to an inclined upward direction that could be broken into a horizontal direction and an upright vertical direction.

7-21-3- However to harness these vertical upright forces, the cable beams and the anchoring ties supporting them had to be balanced by balancing the curvatures of the membrane in a way that the upward forces acting on the lower leg of the arched flexible wall is balanced by the downward forces acting on the lower leg of the adjacent arched flexible wall so that the direction of the resultant forces acting on the joint would pass through the tie tying that joint so eliminating the vertical downward forces that required buoyants at the surface of the water to support the vertical downward forces generated by the inclined anchoring ties tying the unbalanced water retaining flexible wall.

7-21-4- However, residual horizontal forces are left at the upper leg of the top arch formed by the restrained flexible wall.

7-21-5-In the RCFD patent (already issued) use was made of opposite flexible walls to support a waterhead from either side of the flexible walls.

On a similar pattern use is made here of opposite restained flexible walls used to: A- Counterbalance each other, including the residual forces at the upper arches of the flexible membranes, without substantial buoyants to support-them.

B- The erection of a water wall supported by opposite, restrained, balanced flexible walls ending in a somehow trapezoidal shape cross section which combination of balanced arched flexible walls and the trapezoidal shape water wall would give the water wall a character as if it is standing on an angle of repose, which fact gives the whole assembly a better position and a relative rigidity, to stand high waterheads on either side of the water wall as if it was a solid concrete dam limited only by the strength of the reinforcing cables of the flexible wall.

7-21-6- The present design on PL.-121 shows two opposite flexible walls (like no. 1 and 2) tightly anchored to the waterbed (see no. 3, 4) and the remaining parts are tilted towards each other to end in a somehow trapezoidal cross section shape which gives the water wall a better stability to stand internal and external water pressure acting on it.

7-21-7- The opposite flexible walls are supported at intermediate lines in between the waterbed and the surface of the water with cable beams and anchoring ties (like no. 5, 6) calculated and balanced to have the direction of the resultant forces acting on the ties, pass through the ties themselves without generating vertical downward forces that would require a buoyant at the surface of the water to support them.

7-21-8 Said anchoring ties (no. 5, 6) could be anchored directly to the waterbed (see no. 7, 8) or to intermediate structures that could transfer their stresses wherever possible.

7-21-9- The upper ends of the flexible walls are connected to each other with connections (like no. 9) that could transfer forces to each other so that the residual forces at the upper parts of the flexible walls are counterbalanced with each other.

7-21-10- The already described water wall could stand different waterheads on either side of the wall.

7-22-1- See PL.-122-TRUE WATER COLUMNS If a troncated pyramid is built of solid impermeable sides (standing upright on its larger base) and filled with water, the resultant, upright water pressure acting on the four walls of the pyramid would tend to uplift and detach the inward slanted four walls of the pyramid from their base. ~, 7-22-2- If two opposite walls of the troncated pyramid are extended to a certain length, the two opposite extended solid walls would be subjected to an upward vertical resultant due to the internal water pressure on the inward slanting extended walls.

7-22-3- If one of the extended walls of the pyramid is taken out and the opposite extended wall is still subjected to the same water level, (say from a flow from a stream etc.) the extended wall would still be subjected to the same uplifting water pressure as it was before removing the opposite wall.

If that remaining extended wall was extended for a considerable length it would need supports to take the horizontal component of the outward water pressure and its uplifting vertical component.

These forces could be supported by either: A- A solid structure on the downstream area of the solid wall of the pyramid which could take the stresses in compression as is the case of the conventional solid dams.

B- Or by ties connected to that remaining prolonged side of the original pyramid and extended to be anchored to a fixed point in the upstream area, which ties would take the stresses in tension instead of compression.

7-22-4- The balanced ties described in the previous paragraph in combination with that solid wall of the remaining prolonged side of the pyramid would hold the waterhead acting on them without the need of a buoyant at the surface of the water in a way as if the water is assuming an angle of repose to rest on it.

7-22-5- If the remaining extended wall of the pyramid is replaced with a flexible wall, even that the flexible wall would take a curvaceous shape, this does not upset the balance of the tension ties that were holding the remaining straight, solid wall of the pyramid.

7-22-6- To reduce the stresses acting on the flexible wall the one span arched, flexible wall, replacing the solid wall of the pyramid, is subdivided into multi spans and multi curves or arches which are balanced with each other to eliminate the residual downward vertical forces and in certain cases generate some upward vertical components to carry the flexible wall and its accessories etc.

7-22-7- Since the water pressure increases with the depth, the lower arches closer to the waterbed would be smaller than the adjacent arches above them. 7-22-8- The resultant, balanced forces would generally be in the same direction as the direction of the tension ties connecting the flexible wall to fixed points on the waterbed or elsewhere upstream.

7-22-9- On the other hand, if the original troncated, solid pyramid described in 7-22-1- is replaced with a flexible wall waterfilled, troncated, circular cone resting upright on its larger base,- even thattheouter skin of the flexible cone would assume a single arch all around, this would not upset the balanced upward resultants that were acting on the four opposite solid walls of the pyramid.

7-22-10-To reduce the stresses on the outer skin of the cone, one arch, flexible outer skin of the cone is subdivided into multi spans, multi- arches, flexible wall, which arches are balanced with each other to have the resultant forces acting on them, have the same direction as the direction of the ties anchoring them to the waterbed, leaving some residual, upward forces to carry the outer skin of the cone with its accessories etc.

7-22-11 - In the case of a circular, conic structure as already described, instead of the internal ties restraining the flexible skin of the cone, such a structure could have horizontal outside rings at different levels to restrain the flexible skin of the conic structure (like no. 3, PL.-1 22) Besides, for large diameter water columns, these horizontal rings could be tied with transversal ties (like no. 4) to reduce the stresses on them.

Also, additional internal diagonal ties (like no. 5) or external ties (not shown) could be added to stiffen the flexible structure and prevent it from swaying.

7-22-12- A top ring, solid or flexible, is used to balance the residual forces acting on the skin (like no. 1) of the flexible troncated cone.

7-22-13- Such described conic structure with or without restrained flexible outer skin, balanced to be self standing without substan tial buotants at the surface of the water could be referred to as a TRUE WATER WALL or WATER COLUMN.

7-22-14- The basic principles governing the true self supporting water walls and water columns could be abbreviated as follows: 1 st-It is understood that the water pres sure acting underneath an inclined solid straight wall exerts a horizontal outward pres sure and a vertical upward pressure propor tional to the inward inclination of said wall.

This fact holds true even when the straight solid wall is replaced with a flexible, imperme able wall.

2nd water wall is a wall of water as suming somehow a trapezoidal cross section shape resting upright on its larger base and retained upright with two opposite wall skins tightly anchored at their lower edges to the base of the water wall and connected at their upper edges to each other to counterbalance the stresses acting on them.

3rd -To-reduce the stresses acting on the opposite wall skins retaining the water wall, rows of ties are connected to the opposite wall skins at different height and transfer their loads to each other our to opposite points at the base of tbe water wall or further beyond.

4than the case of flexible wall skins re taining the-water wall, the arches formed by the flexible wall skin are balanced to have the direction of the resultant of the water pressure forces acting on the flexible wall skin pass along the line of the anchoring ties tying the said flexible wall skins.

5th-The larger is the number of rows of ties supporting the flexible wall skins, the higher would be the resulting water wall.

6th-Unequal number of rows supporting the opposite flexible~wall skins upset the bal ance of the flexible wall-skins and tilt the water wall to the side with less supporting rows of anchoring ties.

7th-Water walls as described above could be used as dams to replace solid conventional dams.

For water wall dams in steep valleys. to have the water wall tilting against the up stream direction, the flexible wall skin on the downstream side should have larger number of rows of anchoring ties than the flexible wall skin at the upstream side of the water wall.

This setting is also advantageous for water wall dams in flat areas as it gives the water wall an advantage to have it inclined against the upstream water pressure.

8th-Tests show that a water wall dam as described above could hold a waterhead of approximately 9/10 of the height of the water wall itself.

9th-The water walls have to be provided with a makeup water supply to keep the water level of the water wall at least 10% higher than the waterhead it supports: 1 rircular closed in water walls are called water columns.

11th-Water columns use rings to support the flexible wall skin instead of the rows of ties used in water walls.

12th-The above mentioned rules will be referred to as the commonwealth blind water wall rules and abbreviated as CBWR.

Claims (2)

CLAIMS The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property and privileges claimed are defined as follows:

1. A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, for use in restraining the flow of river, sea water, flood water or the like and for containing water, comprising in combination; an upstanding flexible wall, having elongated upper and lower peripheral edge, with the lower edge, positively and substantially sealingly secured to the base of the water basin and the rest of the flexible wall supported by contained fluid media or by loose solid media shielded by the front flexible wall receiving the water pressure.

2. A flexible wall dam as described in claim 1,. having the flexible wall folded.edge to edge where the adjacent-edges are anchored to the waterbed in the-way described in claim 1, resulting in a closed in water tight longitudinal envelope having-its outer walls supported with cable beams connected transversally with ties restricting the shape of the' resulting fluid filled envelope to, a trapezoidal, triangular or any required shape of upstanding, stable cross section which fact makes of the extended flexible wall a closed in longitudinal tunnel at the back of the main flexible wall which fluid filled tunnel forms a continuous, substantially solid'tunnel block that supports the front flexible wall that is subjected to the upstream water pressure.

2. A flexible wall dam as described in claim 1, having the flexible wall extended to form a continuous, closed in longitudinal, tubular structure which structure has its outer wall supported by cable beams where such opposite cable beams are interconnected to each other by means of transversal ties restraining the shape of-the said tubular structure to a substantially trapezoidal, triangular or any required shape of upstanding, stable cross section which fact makes of the extended flexible wall a closed in longitudinal tunnel at the back of the main flexible wall which tunnel is filled with liquid to form a continuous, substantially solid tunnel block that supports the front flexible wall that is subjected to water pressure from upstream.

3. A flexible wall dam as in claim 1 having the flexible wall extended to form a continuous wall restrained tunnel, that is filled with liquid to form a substantially solid block which longitudinal tunnel block is installed in a foundation ditch with its base tilting against the direction of the water pressure of the dam, which fact makes the longitudinal liquid filled tunnel block better resisting to sliding or to overturning since the resultant of the external water pressure forces acting on the tunnel block would fall within the middle third of the base of the water tunnel block.

4. A flexible wall dam as in claim 1 having the front flexible wall extended to form a closed in longitudinal flexible tunnel that is filled with water to form a continuous tunnel block supporting the flexible wall which tunnel block is anchored at different heights with ties connecting the tunnel block to fixed points upstream to give the said tunnel block a better resistance against the external water pressure from upstream.

5. A flexible wall dam as in claim 1 hav ing the flexible wall extended and folded back to be tightly and firmly anchored to the wat erbed where it creates a flexible tunnel structure having its sole, either the waterbed itself or a thin impermeable film joining the oppo site anchored legs of the flexible wall tunnel where the flexible walls of the sole formed tunnel are supported with cable beams and the opposite cable beams are tied to each other with internal transversal ties and diago nal ties to form a structurally stable structure when filled with water which waterfilled struc ture would stand up like a waterfilled longitu dinal tunnel block that could resist the exter nal water pressure applied on it from up stream, where at the same time, to give an advantage to the water filled tunnel block, said tunnel block is made inclined against the direction of the external Water pressure from upstream instead of acting first to overturn the water tunnel block it would have to act first to balance the weight of the section of the water leaning over the exterior water.

6. A flexible wall dam as in claim 1 hav ing the flexible wall extended to form a con tinuous watertight tubular structure with its outer walls restrained to form a stable, up standing structure when filled with water, which structure would resemble to a water filled stable flexible tunnel that could reach the tallest, stable height possible with its actual overall cross section perimiter where the socalled water filled longitudinal tunnel block is provided with an internal air inflated tube at the top of the flexible wall tunnel, with vents, pressure relief valves and priming tubes to make a structure usable for water flooding dikes along the river banks where such flexi ble structure is first laid empty along the river bank, then a continuous tail provided at the foot of the so called flexible tunnel could be fastened to the river bank to prevent the over flooding water from seeping underneath the empty flexible structure, next, the air tube inside the flexible tunnel is inflated to give an edge that would hold the overflowing water and force it to flow through the priming tubes inside the flexible tunnel where the water inside the tunnel rises with the rising water outside the tunnel, forcing the inflated tube to keep floating at the surface of the water and gradually the overflooding water rises and the water inside the flexible tunnel rises with it making the water filling tunnel heavier and more stable in the ground to prevent the water from seeping underneath its base and firm enough to resist sliding due to the outside flooding water pressure.

7. A flexible wall dam as described in claim 1, with the flexible wall extended all around to form a closed in tubular structure at the back of the main flexible wall that has to support the external water pressure, where the tubular structure, beside having the external wall restrained to form a stable hollow tunnel, upstanding high when filled with water, larger at its base and narrow at its apex, the said tunnel like water filled structure is made continuous in a curvatious shape where it could be used to contain liquid inside its periphery that has at the same time a flexible, impermeable floor which could be the extension of the sole at the base of the tunnel and at the same time continuous flexible waterfilled flexible tunnel has internal, vertical, transversal, flexible separation walls and horizontal, flexible separation membranes at certain heights of the flexible tunnel which horizontal flexible membranes gives the choice of adjusting the height of the-curvatious reservoir by filling the flexible tunnel up to the height of the horizontal membrane when a shorter reservoir is needed, which reservoir is also provided with vents and pressure relief valves where it is necessary.

8. A flexible wall dam as described in claim 1, having with the flexible wall extended all around to form a closed in tubular structure at the back of the main flexible wall that has to support the external water pressure, where the tubular structure, beside having the external wall restrained to form a stable hollow tunnel, upstanding high when filled with water, larger at its base and narrow -at its apex, the said tunnel like water filled structure is made into short curvatious lengths, closed at opposite ends, and multi sections of the so called water filled flexible tunnel short blocks are set along a curvatious periphery line with separation spaces in between the said blocks, which spaces are covered with flat, flexible, impermeable plates that close the gaps between the flexible tunnel blocks and create altogether an all around closed in curvatious liquid reservoir or swimming pool, with flexible,- impermeable floor, where, by approaching the flexible tunnel blocks to each other or by putting them further apart, the said curvatious reservoir is made smaller or larger where at the same time a horizontal separation membrane installed at certain heights inside the flexible tunnel blocks allows to make the reservoir shorter by filling it only up to the horizontal separation membrane or all the way to the top of the flexible tunnel, which arrangement makes the curvatious reservoir adjustable in width as well as in height as the case may require, where apart from this the water filled flexible tunnel blocks are provided with vents and with pressure relief valves where it may be necessary.

9. A.flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the back of the flexible wall supported by loose earth, rubble or any sort of solid material piled behind the flexible wall in a structurally stable upstanding cross section with at least the downstream side of the cross section resting at its angle of repose and the upstream side of the cross section totally covered with the main, impermeable, flexible wall that protects the accumulated pile of rubble or the like supporting the main flexible wall, from water seepage that could wash away the rubble or the loose earth cementing between the rubble blocks.

10. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the back of the flexible wall supported by loose earth, rubber or any sort of solid material piled behind the flexible wall in a structurally stable upstanding cross section with at least the downstream side of the cross section resting at its angle of repose and the upstream side of the cross section totally covered with the main, impermeable, flexible wall that protects the accumulated pile of bubble or the like supporting the main flexible wall, where to have such accumulated loose material, stands up better and be better anchored to the waterbed, first, staggered rows of concrete piles are driven in the waterbed inclined against the direction of the water pressure and left protruding up high before dumping the loose rubble to fill the area in between the concrete piles where such loose material is dampened and allowed to settle so cementing the areas in between the protruding concrete piles two form-altogether a compact solid mass that when protected from the upstream water by the main flexible, impermeable wall would stand like a solid, firm dam to support the flexible wall subjected-to the external water pressure from upstream in a setting arranged that the resultant of the water pressure forces falls in the middle third of the base of the earth wall supporting the flexible wall membrane and where, to keep the loose earth dam dry and to avoid melting and erosion of the earth, the accumulated earth wall is provided with porous drain pipes that drain any eventual water from inside the block of earth towards the downstream area, and to prevent water seepage below the flexible wall, and underneath the block of loose material supporting the flexible wall, the flexible wall is tightly anchored to a continuous pier resting on piles driven in the waterbed and cemented in between to have a continuous, impermeable underground concrete wall that prevents water seepage underneath the rubble wall and as an additional measure against breaking of the underground concrete wall and against sliding of a section of the rubble wall due to water seepage underneath the loose earth wall, the said continuous concrete wall and the pier capping it are reinforced with continuous steel wire cables all along the foot of the dam to hold the base of the dam firm against sliding downstream.

11. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the back of the main flexible wall, facing the water pressure from up stream, supported by loose earth, rubber or any sort of solid material piled behind the flexible wall in a structurally stable upstanding cross section, where, to have a reversible dam capable of holding a waterhead alternatively on both sides of the dam, the said earth fill dam is made with a structurally stable up standing structure with a cross section allow ing the material of the earth wall to rest at its angle of repose at both opposite sides of the cross section, where, in such cases a similar flexible, impermeable wall as the one on the upstream side, is mounted to cover the oppo site downstream side of the earth fill wall and to be tightly and firmly anchored at the oppo site base of the earth fill wall the same way as the main flexible wall is anchored on the upstream side of the earth wall, since the downstream side of the wall would be alterna tively once upstream side and once down stream side as the-tidal water changes direc tion and to avoid seeping water from building up pressure in between the opposite, flexible, impermeable walls anchored at the opposite bases of the-earth ;;fill walls of the compiled block supporting the flexible walls, the said opposite flexible walls are made porous at the low water level which in the case of the tidal power dams, is the level of the low tides, to allow the high pressured water to escape towa rds-th e lowwatersidewithoutallowing the earth fill to be washed away with it.

1 2. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the back of the main flexible wall, facing the water pressure from up stream, supported by loose earth, rubble or any sort of solid material piled behind the flexible wall in a structurally stable upstanding cross section, where, to have a reversible dam capable of holding a waterhead alternatively on both sides of the dam, the said earth fill dam is made with a structurally stable up standing shape with a cross section allowing the material of the earth wall to rest at its angle of repose at both opposite sides of the cross section, and to help the loose rubble fill hold better and be better anchored to the waterbed,

prior to dumping the loose rubble, concrete piles are driven into the waterbed and left protruding up high through the earth wall to be with an inclination towards the vertical center of the- cross section of the earth fill wall to be, which means that the concrete piles in each half of the earth fill wall would be inclined against the direction of the water pressure applied at the opposite half of the earth fill dam, and once the concrete piles are in place the earth fill is dumped to fill the area in between the piles and build up the required shape of the earth fill wall that is gradually dampened and allowed to settle and cement the area all around in between the piles, which piles serve the purpose of holding up better the loose earth fill wall block supporting the flexible, impermeable walls and anchor the earth fill block to the waterbed.

13. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the lower end of the flexible, impermeable, membrane anchored to concrete piers at the waterbed, capping continuous rows of piles provided with extension wings at opposite sides'where the earth space left in, between the adjacent wings, once driven into the ground, is drilled out with a drill or loosened out by means of a high pressure water jet and taken cut by means of a pump at the bottom end of a flexible hose or sucked out by means of one high air pressure hose and one vacuum hose and replaced with con- .

crete injected in through separate hose, which concrete fills the gap in between the adjacent wings of the concrete piles and create an underground continuous watertight concrete wall that could prevent any water seepage underneath the earth fill wall block and to avoid cracking and sliding of said wall, the concrete pier capping the concrete piles is reinforced with continuous wire cables all along the base of the dam.

14. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the lower end of the flexible, impermeable membrane anchored to concrete piers at the waterbed, that are capping continuous rows of concrete piles provided with longitudinal extension wings at opposite sides and with- auxiliary, longitudinal cores at opposite sides of the main core of the pile, ending at short distances before the lower end of the piles, at the end of which auxiliary core, high water pressure nozzles are installed, which nozzles are used to carry high pressure water jet at opposite sides of the pile to excavate the earth from around the bottom of the pile which earth is'pumped or sucked away through the main-core of the pile after that the earth fill inside the main core is cleared out with a similar process, and new concrete is injected through the excavated area at a short distance above the bottom of the pile where such opposite blocks of fresh concrete are connected through the pile with a section of concrete plate at a short distance above the lower end of the pile which fact gives the pile a greater carrying capacity and at the-same time a greater pulling up capacity of the pile in such a way that a small and short pilecould carry or develop a pulling up capacity much greater than simple smooth piles in the ground.

1 5. A flexible, wall dam as described in claim 1, having the lower end of the flexible, impermeable membrane anchored to concrete piers at the waterbed, and anchoring ties connecting the flexible wall at different heights to additional piers on the waterbed where, to develop high uplifiting capacity of the concrete piers, the piers are poured over sets of concrete piles, provided with wings at opposite sides, driven into the ground with their lower ends inclined towards each other to clamp a large mass of earth in a way that, to pull up the pier one has to overcome the skin friction bonding forces on the piles plus the weight of the mass of earth clamped by the inclined concrete piles which fact increases tremendously the pulling up capacity of the simple piles without adding a concrete dish cast in place at about the bottom of the pile.

16. A flexible wall dam as described in claim 1, having an opposite flexible wall anchored at its lower end to the waterbed at a distance parallel to the first main flexible wall and the upper end inclined at opposite direction to the first main flexible wall, and is supported - by longitudinal buoyants together with the upper and of the first main flexible wall facing the- upstream water and the area in between the opposite flexible walls is filled with water-to a level higher than the level of -the upstream water in the dam, and by restraining the opposite flexible walls with anchoring ties to each other and to the ground, the sole formed water filled structure would act as a substantially solid continuous water wall to 'support the upstream water pressure in the dam.

1 7. - A flexible wall dam, reservoir etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall receiving the external water pressure sup -ported-directly -indirectly-by water contained in an elongated dome-like, flexible structure with its base larger than its height and with its dome positively and substantially sealingly secured to the base-of the water basin at its both ends, where such dome is provided with make up water supply and with pressure relief valves where it is necessary.

18. A flexible wall dam, reservoir, etc. as described in claim having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in an elongated dome like, flexible structure with its base larger than its height and with its dome positively and substantially sealingly secured to the base of the water basin at its both ends, which ends are connected with fluid tight sole to prevent any fluid loss from the fluid filling the dome, which dome is also supported at its back on the downstream side with longitudinal cable beams transferring their loads with ties to fixed points on the water basin in the upstream direction, where at the same time the whole dome structure is mounted on an in dined base tilling against the upstream direction of the water to give the dome structure an advantage against the water pressure from upstream, where at the same time the fluid filled dome structure is provided with make up fluid source to compensate for- any fluid loss inside the dome, and also provided with pressure relief valves to protect the dome against excessive pressure.

19. A flexible .waIl dam, reservoir, etc. - as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in a flexible, tubular structure resting on a fluid filled saddle that is connected to the tubular structure, from one side, and at its base, said saddle is tightly anchored to the.

base of the water basin, which basin, where such assembled structure is,.wherever possible-installed in a sinsuoidal shape along the line of the dam with its base resting on an inclined platform tilting against the upstream water direction, where at the same time to give an additional advantage to the assembled tubular structure, said fluid filled structure is made higher than the waterhead it has to support and at the same time for large diameter, flexible, tubular structural, -the flexible tube is reinforced with belts rolled in opposite spiral ways around a tube to support. the skin of the tube and in certain cases said large diameter fluid filled tubes are reinforced with longitudinal cable beams and transversal ties connecting said cable beams to each other, in normal situation, the-so-described tubular assembly should be filled with water and be provided with make up water. supply and pressure relief valves wherever needed and in addition to that the tubular assembly could be tied with anchoring ties joining the upper parts-of-the assem bly-tofixed pointsupstrea m and further ties joining the -back of the sinusoidal curves, on the downstream side, to each other to compensate for the sideways water pressure on these curves.

20. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir etc. as described in claim 1. having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by water medi contained in a flexible, tubular structure resting on a fluid filled saddle that is connected to the tubular structure, from one side, and at its base, said saddle is tightly anchored to the base of the water basin, which basin, where such assembled structure is, wherever possible installed in a sinsuoidal shape long the line of the dam or the dike with its base resting on an inclined platform tilting against the upstream water direction, where at the same time, to give an additional advantage to the assembled tubular structure, said water filled structure is made higher than the waterhead it has to support, and at the the same time to make the above described structure usable for flood water dikes, said structure is brought empty to the river bank where the water flood is to be expected, spread along the river bank in the required shape and either; A-water is pumped in to fill the tubular structure after anchoring the saddle tightly to the river bank, to a height higher than the level that the flooding water is expected to reach and when the flooding water reaches the flexible dike, the dike is there full and ready to-contain it or B- that the dike is spread in place and left empty but provided with priming hoses to let in the flooding water inside the tubular assembly, where the level inside the tubular dike rises with the level of the flooding water filing the tubular flexible dike gradually from the flooding water itself where a small air inflated tube installed at the internal top part of the main tubular structure, help keep the top of the flexible, tubular structure floating higher than the flooding water level which fact prevents the flooding ,water to overpass the flexible dike and keeps the flooding water level above the suction hoses feeding the tubular dike.

21. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pres sure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in a flexible, tubular structure resting on a fluid filled saddle that is con nected at its upper face to the tubular struc ture, from one side, and at its base, said saddle is tightly anchored to the base of the water basin, where the assembled fluid filled tubular structure is made continuous ending in a closed in curvaceous shape having the water basin like a pond encircled by the curvaceous water filled, tubular structure, in which case the base of the said pond, if necessary, is lined with an impermeable floor or rnembrane tightly- joined to the base of the assembled tubular structure all around, and once the so-described pond is full of water, the outward water pressure in the pond would counterbalanced itself from all around.

22. A flexible wall dam, dike. reservoir etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pres sure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in a flexible, tubular structure resting on a fluid filled saddle that is con nected at its upper face to the tubular struc ture, from one side, and at its base, said saddle is tightly anchored to the base of the water basin, for the first layer, where the assembled fluid filled tubular structure is made tapered, beginning at a large diameter and ending with a small diameter, and rolled in a spiral way, layer over layer, ending with thicker Jayers at the base and thinner layers at the top, which layers are strapped to each other at intervals and lined with a flexible, impermeable membrane ending the whole as sembly in the shape of a pond that when filled with water the outward pressure due to the waterhead counterbalances itself all around .

23. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pres sure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in a flexible, tubular structure resting on a fluid filled saddle that is con nected at its upper face to the tubular struc ture, from one side, and at its base, said saddle is tightly anchored to the base of the water basn, for the first layer, where the assembled fluid filled tubular structure is made continuous and rolled in spiral way, layer after layer, over each other to form a cylindrical shape reservoir, where the super imposed layers are strapped to each other, and with transversal walls built of flexible, tubular structures to join and stiffen the so described cylindrical structure and with concentric cylindrical structure to stiffen the transversal walls, -built equally of flexible, tubular structure-built up in spiral way the same as the outer-cylindrical structure in a way that the whole assembly ends -with multi concentric cylindrical structures stiffened by transversal walls made of fluid filled, flexible tubes, where such assembled structure is lined with a'flexible,- impermeable membrane lining the different compartments of the structure which compartments'could be filled with different liquids and for a certain extent with different levels.

24. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir etc. as described in claim -1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in'a flexible, tubular structure that is joined to a -broad flexible base where the tubular structure is rolled in a spiral -way in -the -form- of-multi-concentric cylindrical structure built around a main, flexible, upright, tubular, fluid filled skeleton made of multi upright flexible fluid-filled poles joined at their base with an equally tubular, fluid filled ring beam and converging at their upper parts to a main header forming altogether a dome like skeleton with internal concentric skeletons built upright in the same way and connected to each-other at-the base and at different levels where, around the skeletons horizontal, spiral, flexible tubes are rolled around to form concentric, cylindrical structures covered up to the top of the dome with a spiral, tubular structure and where such concentric, cy!indrical structures are stiffened with transversal, flexible walls made of fluid filled flexible tubes ending the whole assembly in the form of dome covered, concentric, cylindrical structures built around upright, flexible, fluid filled skeletons, where the different so-formed compartments are lined with flexible, impermeable, lining where they could be filled with different liquids and to a certain extent at different levels in the different com partments where at the same time the above described flexible concentric domed structure could be converted for an inflated dwelling or shelter by cutting door and window openings through their walls after sealing the tubes and insuring that all inflated parts are subdivided into compartments, and covering the dome with a rain and weather lining which fact makes the structure also a portable inflatable shelter that could be inflated with water and air and could be used as a dwelling, an office, a factory, etc. in tropical countries and in arctic regions as well.

25. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir, etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in flexible, tubular structures built over each other in a brick laying pattern with some tubular sections, in both directions, interlocking in between the lower and upper layers with the whole set ending in an upright longitudinal wall with a trapezoidal cross section shape mounted on a slanting platform inclined against the upstream water direction and with the whole assembly covered with the impermeable front flexible wall, receiving the upstream water pressure which flexible wall is supported by the so-described trapezoidal flex ible wall, which wall is tied with straps wrapped around it and anchored at the opposite bases of said trapezoidal flexible wall.

26. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir, etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pressure supported directly or indirectly by fluid media contained in flexible, tubular structures stacked in rows over each other, with ties tying the tubes of each row to each other and additional ties tying the rows to the lower and upper cones in a way two form-anassembly of fluid filled flexible tubes stacked and tied to each other to form somehow a trapezoidal stable cross section shape that is wrapped with a flexible, impermeable membrane or inserted in a large, flexible, impermeable tube to render the whole assembly of tubes to behave as one unit to support the front flexi ble wall receiving the upstream water pres sure, where at the same time the so-described tubular assembly could be installed in a sinu soidal pattern to carry the pressure of a cer tain waterhead, with additional ties anchoring the tubular assembly to fixed points upstream and more ties to connect the back of the sinusoidal curves to each other to resist the sideways water pressure acting on the tubular wall assembly which tubular wall could be also used as flood water dike and also the tubular wall assembly could be made continu ous in a circular shape creating a pond inside it which pond could be covered with an impermeable front flexible wall and filled with water where the outward water pressure would balance itself from all around.

27. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir, etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the external water pres sure supported directly or indirectly by an upright self standing water wall built by in stalling opposite impermeable, inextensible, elongated flexible walls tightly anchored at their lower ends to the base of the water wall and inclined towards each other to form oppo site arches whose chords form a somehow trapezoidal cross section shape with said chords forming with the base of the trapeze opposite angles of less than 60% with the upper parts of the flexible walls forming the upright sides of the trapeze, are connected at the top to counterbalance the horizontal forces acting on them, which assembly of the opposite walls retaining water in between them forms a self standing water wall that does not require buoyants on the surface of the water to carry the flexible wall and downward resultant of water pressure acting on it due to the fact that the water pressure acting underneath the opposite inclined flexible walls exerts upward vertical pressure on the opposite flexible membranes proportional to the inward inclination of the retaining walls where to reduce the stresses on said retaining walls, said walls are connected with anchoring ties at different levels connecting them in certain cases to each other and in other cases to opposite fixed points at the base of the water wall or beyond it, in a way that the direction of the resultant forces acting on the anchoring ties pass along the line of the anchoring ties so avoiding to generate downward vertical forces on the joints of said anchoring ties with the flexible membrane where the forces acting on the anchoring ties are balanced generally by taking considerations of the smaller arches of the flexible wall created bythe intermediate anchoring ties and the higher water pressure acting on the lower half of each arch than on the upper half of if, ending with an assembly comprising an upstanding water wall with somehow trapezoidal cross section shape resting on its larger base with the opposite upright sides of said trapeze consisting of impermeable, inextensible, flexible walls with theirlower edges tightly and firmly connected to the base of the water column, their upper edges connected to each other and at intermediate levels in between the lower and upper edges, said flexible walls, wherever necessary, are tied with anchoring ties to opposite points to reduce the stresses on said flexible walls retaining the water wall making the whole assembly a firm structure holding a self standing water wall and able to support outside water pressure from either side in a compar- able way as solid dams are used to support external water pressure.

28. A flexible wall dam, dike, reservoir etc. as described in claim 1 having the front flexible wall, receiving the water pressure, supported directly or indirectly by an upright self standing water column built of impermeable, inextensible, flexible wall rolled to form a troncated, conic shape upright column resting on its larger base with its lower edge tightly connected to the base of the water column, where the water pressure acting on the inward inclined sides of the flexible skin of the conic column, would exert upright vertical forces proportional to the inward inclination of the sides of the cone, which upright vertical forces would uplift the sides of the cone and the related accessories so keeping the skin of the conic column standing up without the need of extra supports where at the same time the horizontal forces acting on the skin- of the cone could be supported by ties at different heights of the cone, anchored internally to opposite points within. or outside. the base of the cone or. that the skin of the cone could be reinforced with rings at different heights that could replace the ties-and upon which rings the outward water pressure acting on the skin of the cone, would counterbalance itself from all around in a way that the water column could be considered as a continuous closed in dike where the external water pressure is converted to be an internal pressure, where the whole assembly forms an upright, self standing, water column held mainly by the skin of the water. column without the necessity of supporting structures to keep up the water column, and in the case of large diameter water columns with low sidewalls, the rings supporting-the back of the flexible wall could be also connected at intervals with anchoring ties to opposite fixed points to prevent the water column from swaying away in one di rection or the other.

CLACMS-- -- -- Amendments to-the claims have been filed, and have the following effect: New or textually amended claims have been filed as follows:

1. A flexible wall dam, breakwater, water reservoir, for use in restraining the flow of river, sea water, flood water or the like and for containing water, comprising in combination;; a water barrier membrane made of flexible, impermeable, inextensible cross-reinforced fabric, rubber, rubberized material or the like built basically to stand high pressure of water heads of tens of ft. and tens of meters high where such specially designed water retaining membrane is made of longitudinal strips of about 10 ft. wide comparable to the heavy industrial conveyor belt strips spliced longitu dinally side by side and having common rein forcement joining the adjacent strips and rub berized splicing compound is applied on the joint and vulcanized and cured by special equipment designed for this purpose to insure that the splicing joints develop the full strength of the original material of the strips resulting in an upstanding flexible wall having elongated upper and lower peripheral edge, with the lower edge, where necessary, posi tively and substantially sealingly secured to the base of the water basin by being inserted in a longitudinal channel made in the wat erbed in the shape of the letter "C" with its opening directed upwards where the lower edges of the flexible membrane are inserted all along the ''C"-shaped channel followed by longitudinal solid blocks fed in mouth-pieces over the flexible membrane where said mouthpieces wedge and interlock with each other to squeeze the flexible membrane-inside the "C' '-shaped channel resulting in a tight, firm anchoring between the flexible wall and the waterbed where the rest of the flexible wall. is supported- and stabilized by contained fluid media or by loose solid media shielded, by the front flexible wall receiving the'water pressure.