GB2210114A

GB2210114A - Elastomeric hingeplate

Info

Publication number: GB2210114A
Application number: GB8726280A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dipl-Ing Alfred Larani
Original assignee: Phoenix AG
Current assignee: Phoenix AG
Priority date: 1987-09-17
Filing date: 1987-11-10
Publication date: 1989-06-01
Anticipated expiration: 2007-11-10
Also published as: DE3731186A1; GB2210114B; FR2620769B1; FR2620769A1; GB8726280D0

Description

1 1 2.0% '1 - 4 A/- j 01 i HINGEPLATE The invention is concerned with a

hingeplate of elastomeric material which lies between components of concrete, steel, cast iron or reinforced concrete, in particular between tunnel segments.

In the case of tunnel installations which are driven through rock the direct sealing of the tunnel segments (tubbing segments) against the penetration of water may frequently be waived. The elements of concrete, st--el, cast iron or reinforced concrete may consequently be set directly against one another. Since through external influences or the movements of vehicles inside the tunnel displacements in the profile of the tunnel may occur which have as a result a canting of the segments with respect to one another, the contact areas are frequently made rounded in order to enable rolling of the faces of the concrete against one another through a certain angle.

In the case of tunnels in which there is a threat of water bursting in, the contact areas are in addition sealed against the outer water pressure through the insertion of elastomeric profiles. As regards details reference is made to the following publications:

DE-C-2 833 345, DEA-3 502 620, EP-A0 210 326, EP-A-0 222 968, DE-U-8 621 315, DE-U8 621 316.

Between the tunnel segments plates of hardwood or plastics or rubber may be laid in order to equalise peaks in pressure from localised contact. But idthe case of these plates the very property of rubber and plastics has the disadvantageous effect of their squeezing radially out of the gaps under deformation where there is contact.

Reinforced materials tend under the outer pressure to yield too little and in particular to build up peaks of pressure likewise in the case of canting.

In the case of resilient materials through the swelling up of the material with the transverse movements resulting from it, the formation of cracks in the concrete may in addition occur from the frictional forces which arise and lead to larger parts breaking out sideways. Damage to the faces of the concrete may above all occur in such a way that in the case of inadmissible pressure loading surface crushing occurs. A further kind of damage lies in the tearing out of large areas of parts of the concrete from the surface through combined shear and pressure loadings occurring.

The problem of the invention now is to create a plate which firstly accepts the pressure loadings which arise without squeezing out sideways to an inadmissible extent from the gaps at the contact and secondly absorbs canting of the segments with respect of one another like a hinge without the local peaks in pressure which occur upon canting being allowed to become inadmissibly high.

According to the present invention the hinge plate has a soft core layer of rubber or material similar to rubber, which is surrounded by a skin of low stretch and hiall strength.

Claims

Advantageous features of the invention are set forth in the Sub-Claims.

The hingeplate in accordance with the invention as compared with prior constructions has surprising advantages.

Z 1 1 - 3 1) The plate may be made relatively soft but nevertheless even at high pressure is not forced out of the gap at the joint if the reinforcing envelopes are adequately dimensioned as regards strength and elasticity.
2) Through swelling being allowed in a controlled manner beads may be produced at the edge which position the plate securely between the tunnel segments as a hinge.
3) In the core of the plate through the resilience of the material a quasi--hydraulic pressure results which leads to the situation that even in the case of alteration of the hinge gap through canting of the tunnel segments increases in pressure to one side become equalised to a considerable extent.

4) In the case of canting the shape of the plate adapts itself to the gap through shifting of the material. But part of the soft core will swell out at the thinner side of the gap and thereby reinforce the positionsecuring action of the bead lying at that point. Forcing of the plate out at the more open side is thereby prevented.

5) In spite of the high tensile outer layer irregularities in the contact area may readily penetrate into the plate because the soft core yields. Consequently peaks in pressure cannot occur.

6) The soft core of the plate and the contact areas of the tunnel segments do not come into contact with one another. They are separated by the outer layer which exhibits a very low stretch. Through the swelling up of the core of the plate no transverse forces result with respect to the tunnel segment since the outer layer is not deformed at the same time. The frequently observed - 4 splitting off of tunnel segments in the contact region is thereby avoided.

For the production of the hingeplate in accordance with the invention the methods of mass production and vulcanization known for this in the rubber industry may be used.

As an example the following course of manufacture may be described:

a) First of all an inner rubber layer is extruded. Over this inner rubber layer (core) is wound one or more layers of fabric and the whole packet is again sprayed over with the outer rubber.

Instead of the wrapping with fabric the braiding, knitting round or wrapping may be effected with string, threads, rope or foil. A plastics coating may equally well be extruded over the inner rubber layer.

b) The blank prepared in this way is pressed flat and depending upon the necessary accuracy is vulcanized in a press, in a boiler, in a continuous vulcanization apparatus or by a similar method. In doing this the plate may.be either produced with parallel faces or else be provided already with slight edge beads.

c) The fabric may be cut off smooth at the endfaces of the plate or in a preceding step of the mass production for the achievement of a round envelope may also be enveloped again at the endfaces.

The invention is now explained in greater detail with the aid of embodiments by reference to the diagrammatic drawings.

4 Figure 1 shows, seen in crosssection, a tunnel tube 1 which again consists of a plurality of tunnel segments 2.

In the region X of contact between two tunnel segments lies the hingeplate 3 in accordance with the invention.

According to Figure 2 this region X of contact between the two tunnel segments 2,A and 2B between which lies the hingeplate 3 is shown enlarged.

According to Figure 3 the hingeplate 3 consists of the soft core layer 4 of rubber or material similar to rubber and of the skin 5. The skin consists here of one layer of fabric of low stretch and high strength.

Figure 4 shows the hingeplate 3 under high pressure loading, whereby the beads 6A and 6B are being forced out sideways from the gap in the concrete. The plate may likewise have beads already in the unloaded state.

Figure 5 shows a hingeplate which is protected on the outside against wear and moisture by an additional layer of rubber.

Figure 6 shows a favourable formation of the edge of the concrete which through its rounding-off 8 avoids kinks in the hingeplate.

Figure 7 shows a hingeplate the protective layer 7 of which is thicker in the edge region 7 than in the central region 10.

1 Figure 8 shows the same hingeplate under high pressure loading under which the bead 11 is being forced sideways out of the gap in the concrete.

6 - Figure 9 shows a hingeplate the skin of which consists of two inlays 12 and 13 of fabric.

Figure 10 shows a hingeplate in which in the centre of the core layer 4 there are fabric inlays 14, which here are made in two layers.

Figure 11 shows the hingeplate in the case of canting of the faces of the concrete with respect to one another. In doing so the bead 15 has formed which strengthens the securing of position.

Figure 12 shows a hingeplate in which there is a cavity 16 in the centre of the soft core layer 4, which is filled with liquid.

According to Figure 13 the skin 5 in the region of the centre of the plate forms a butt joint (the point of contact 17).

According to Figure 14 the skin 5 overlaps at one side, the overlapping 18A lying only in the region of the centre of the plate.

According to Figure 15 the skin 5 overlaps likewise only on one side, though here the overlapping 18B extends over nearly the whole width of the plate.

Figure 16 to 18 show the different trends of the line of join of the skin 5, the lines of join running in shape of a wave, 19A, Figure 16, a zigzag, 19B, Figure 17 or respectively as a rectangular zigzag line, 19C, Figure 18.

The plate in accordance with the invention may besides its hinging function also have a sealing function.

MC 7 - \I- 1; C L A I M S 1. A hingeplate of elastomeric material, which lies between components of concrete, steel, cast iron or reinforced concrete, in particular between tunnel segments, in which the hingeplate has a soft core layer of rubber or material similar to rubber, which is surrounded by a skin of low stretch and high strength.

2. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim is a fabric or a swathe of threads.

in which the skin 3. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 1, in which the skin is braided or knitted threads.
4. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 2 or 3, in which the material of the skin is of steel, glass, aramide, carbon fibres, polyester fibres or similar materials.
5. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 1, in which the skin consists of plastics.
6. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 5, in which the plastics consist of polyethylene, polyoxymethylene, polyurethane or polycarbonate.
7. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6, in which the skin consists of one or more layers.
8. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 7, in which the skin is made seamless and without joins.
9. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 7, in which the skin overlaps on one or both sides.

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10. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 9, in which the overlap extends across the whole width of the plate.

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11. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 9, in which the overlap lies only in the region of the centre of the plate.

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12. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 7, in which the skin is butt-jointed.
13. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 12, in which the join lies in the region of the centre of the plate.
14. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, in which the line of join runs straight.
15. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 12 or Claim 13, in which the line of join runs in the shape of a wave or zigzag as a rectangularzigzag or as a trapezoidal line.
16. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 15, in which the skin is protected by an additional envelope of rubber or material similar to rubber.
17. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 16, in which the protective layer is thicker in the edge region than in the centre region.

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18. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 17, in which the plate has beads at the edge.
19. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 18, in which the plate is protected against cutting and kinking by rounding the edges of the segments.
20. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 19, in which there are additional inlays inside the soft core layer.

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21. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 20, in which the inlays consist of fabric, threads, sheetmetal, plastics or similar materials.
22. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 20 to 21, in which the inlays are formed of a grating or coarse-mesh fabric.
23. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 20 to 22, in which the additional inlays lying inside have holes passing through.
24. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 20 to 23, in which the inlays have scalloping in the region of the edge.
25. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 24, in which there are cavities inside the soft core layer.
26. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 25, in which the cavities are created by granular material or hollow bodies (e.g. gasfilled glass or plastics balls).
27. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 25 or Claim 26, in which the cavities are filled with gas or liquid.
28. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 25 or Claim 26, in which the cavities are filled with unvulcanized rubber which is provided with or without accelerating chemicals.
29. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 28, in which these materials obtain their accelerating chemicals through diffusion from the soft layer surrounding them.
30. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 25 or Claim 26, in which the cavities are filled with slowly setting materials - in order to be able to await settling in the structural system (e.g. the concrete system).

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31. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 30, in which the core layer and the additional envelope consist of a rubber mixture on the basis of polychloroprene, EPM, nitrile rubber or other types of rubber resistant to swelling, weather and chemicals.

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32. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 31, in which the Shore A hardness of the core layer amounts to between 30 to 85.
33. A hingeplate as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 32, in which the skin or the protective layer is harder than the core layer.
34. A hingeplate as claimed in Claim 33, in which the skin or the protective layer exhibits a Shore A hardness between 55 and 90.
35. A hingeplate substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

4 Published 1958 a M%e Paten: O'.,cc S-.at-C Housc 6671 HiGh London rC' IR 4TIF Pjrthe:. ccples 2nay be obtained frcir, Tie Patent Wice.

Sales Branch. St Mary Cray. Orpington. Kent BM 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St Mazy Cray. Kent. Con. 1.87.