GB2382099A

GB2382099A - Flexible flood barrier

Info

Publication number: GB2382099A
Application number: GB0207870A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian Edward Chapman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-11-17
Filing date: 2002-04-05
Publication date: 2003-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 2022-04-05
Also published as: GB0207870D0; GB2382099B; GB0127588D0

Abstract

A flood barrier 8 for a building 12 comprises a flexible, waterproof membrane 18 which is secured to the building by a frame member 14 and a channel member 20 which trap the sheet between them to form a fluid tight seal. The frame and channel members may have a substantially square or rectangular cross section, and the membrane may have sufficient slack that it rests against part 32 of the structure to be protected, which thereby supports the water pressure.

Description

Title: Barrier The present invention relates to a barrier. In particular, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to a barrier for use in protecting a building from the ingress of flood water.

It is known to provide a barrier for fitting to or about an opening in a building such as a doorway, window or airbrick, in order to prevent, or at least reduce, the ingress of flood water into the building through the opening. These known barriers typically comprise a rigid sheet of material which is located within or about the opening. Sealing means are provided to seal between the sheet and the walls of the building surrounding the opening. Such known barriers have to be made to measure and the sealing means are often complicated. As a result, the known barriers tend to be rather expensive and difficult to fit.

It is an obj ective of the present invention to provide a barrier which is cheap to manufacture, and which is simple and easy to fit.

It is a further objective of the invention to provide a barrier which can be easily adapted to protect different sized openings in a building.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a barrier for preventing or limiting the passage of a fluid through an area of a structure, the barrier comprising a flexible membrane impervious or substantially impervious to the fluid for covering the area and means for securing the membrane to the structure, the securing means comprising a channel member and a frame member adapted to be received in the channel member to trap the membrane between itself and the channel member to form a substantially fluid tight seal, one of the channel member or the frame member being attachable to the structure.

Several embodiments ofthepresentinventionwillnowbedescribed, bywayofexample only, with reference to the following drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of a wall of a building showing a barrier in accordance with the invention fitted over a lower portion of a doorway in the wall; Figure 2 is a cross sectional, part exploded, view taken along line A-A of Figure 1 in an enlarged scale; Figure 3 is a partial front elevation of a wall of a building showing a barrier in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention fitted over a lower portion of a doorway in the wall; Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line B-B of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a partial front elevation of a wall of a building showing a barrier in accordance with the invention fitted over a window in the wall; Figure 6 is apartial front elevation of awall of abuilding showing a barrier in accordance with the invention fitted over an airbrick in the wall; Figure 7 is a cross sectional view taken along line C-C of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a plan view of an angled connector for use in a barrier in accordance with the invention; Figure 9 is a plan view of an angled channel member for use in a barrier in accordance with the invention; Figure 10 is a plan view of the end portions of two channel members for use in a barrier in accordance with the invention, showing an alternative means for attaching the membrane at a corner junction between two frame members;

Figure 11 is a side elevation of the end portion of one of the channel members shown in Figure 10; Figure 12 is a plan view of part of a barrier in accordance with the invention, showing two elongate frame members interconnected by an angled connector ; Figure 13 is a front elevation of part of a wall showing a how frame members forming part of a barrier in accordance with the invention can be partially disguised when the barrier is not in use; Figure 14 is a cross sectional view showing a cover positioned over a frame member of a barrier in accordance with the invention ; Figure 15 is a partial front elevation of a wall of a building showing a barrier in accordance with a yet further embodiment of the invention fitted over a lower portion of a doorway in the wall; Figure 16 is a cross section view of the barrier of Figure 15 taken on line D-D ; Figure 17 is an enlarged view of the part of the barrier of Figure 16.

A barrier in accordance with the invention, indicated generally at 8, is shown in Figures 1 and 2 as providing a flood barrier covering a lower portion of a doorway 10 in a wall 12 of a building.

The barrier 8 comprises a frame having three elongate frame members 14 (only one of which can bee seen in Figure 2) attached to the wall 10 surrounding the lower portion of the doorway 12. Two of the frame members 14 are attached to the wall so as to extend adjacent to respective vertical edges of the doorway 10. A third elongate frame member extends horizontally between the lower ends of the upright frame members 14 below the bottom edge 16 of the doorway.

A flexible membrane 18, which is made from a suitable water impervious material such as P. V. C

or neoprene, for example, is arranged to overlie the lower portion of the doorway 10 and the frame members 14. The membrane 18 is secured to each of the frame members 14 by means of a respective channel member 20,22, 24 which locates over its respective frame member trapping the membrane between itself and the frame member as can be seen best in Figure 2. The membrane 18 can be formed as a single layer of material or could comprise a number of layers of material laid one on top of the other to form a multi-ply membrane. The different layers may comprise the same material or some ofthe layers could be of different materials as required. In Figure 2, the channel member 20 is shown spaced from the frame member 14 and the membrane 18 for clarity.

In the embodiment shown, the frame members 14 are of square section and the channel members 20,22, 24 have a correspondingly square U-shaped section which is arranged to be a snug fit about the frame members when the membrane is in position, thus holding the membrane firmly on the frame members. For added security, clamps or screws (not shown) may be used to hold the channel members in place. The sidewalls 26 of the channel members 20,22, 24 may be adapted to resiliently clamp the membrane 18 to the frame members.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the channel members 20,22, 24 hold the membrane 18 firmly against at least part of three sides of each frame member 14. This forms a watertight seal between the membrane and the frame members so that flood water is prevented from passing into the building between the membrane 18 and the frame members 14. The arrangement effectively provides a labyrinth seal.

In order to prevent flood water from seeping between the frame members 14 and the wall 12, a bead of silicon seal 28,30 is applied along either side of the frame members to seal the gap between the frame members and the wall. Whilst use of a silicon seal as described is preferred, any suitable means can be used to seal between the frame members 14 and the wall 12.

In the embodiment shown the lower frame member is secured to a portion of the wall below the doorway 10. However, depending on the design of the doorway, the lower frame member could be secured to the ground or floor at the base of the doorway rather than to the wall.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modification to the barrier 8 in which the lower frame member is omitted and sand bags 33 are placed on an elongated lower edge portion 34 of the membrane to form an effective seal between the membrane and the lower edge 16 of the doorway and/or the ground 35.

The membrane is cut to form a T section as shown to ensure an adequate area on which to place the sand bags 33. In this embodiment, an upper horizontal frame member 36 is positioned between the upper ends of the upright frame members. The membrane 18 is secured to the upper frame member using a channel member 37. The upper frame member 36 and channel member 3 7 are provided mainly to prevent the upper edge of the membrane from flapping about, rather than to provide a seal. It follows, therefore, that the upper frame member need not be fully secured to the wall but could be attached only to the upper ends of the upright frame members. The sand bags 33 have been omitted from Figure 3 for clarity.

Where the flood waters are not expected to rise the mil height of the doorway, the barrier 8 can be arranged to extend only part way up the doorway as shown. However, if required the upright frame members 14 could extend beyond the top ofthe doorway and the upper frame member 36 could be provided extending horizontally between the upper ends of the upright frame members 14.

A particularly preferred feature of the barrier 8 is that the membrane 18 between the frame members 14 is arranged to have plenty of slack material such that the membrane rests against the door 32 as can be seen from Figures 2 and 4. This reduces the risk of the membrane tearing when in us, as the weight of the flood water can be taken by the door 32 rather than by the membrane itself.

Figure 5 shows a fluid barrier 40 in accordance with the invention used to provide a flood barrier for a window 42 in a wall 44. The window barrier 40 is essentially the same as the barrier 8 of Figure 1, except that in this case the frame comprises four frame members (not shown) arranged to surround the window and four corresponding channel members 46, 48, 50, 52 are provided to secure the membrane 54 to each of the frame members so that the window is completely covered by the membrane 54. For safety reasons, it may not be possible to completely seal a window, in which case the barrier could be arranged to extend only part way up the window in a manner

similar that described with respect to the door barriers shown in Figures 1 to 4.

By suitable sizing, abarrier 40', similar to that described above, canbe used to protect an airbrick 56 in awall as illustrated inFigures 6 and 7. Figure 7 shows how the membrane 54 is secured to upper and lower frame members 58,60 by their respective channel members 52,48 and how the membrane rests up against the airbrick to provide support.

A method of constructing a fluid barrier in accordance with the invention will now be described.

Firstly the frame is constructed with the frame members being sized to suit the area to be protected.

The frame members are then affixed to the structure and a silicon seal is applied between the frame members and the structure. The frame can be attached to the structure using any suitable means such as screws, adhesive or welding.

A suitable membrane is cut to size allowing for plenty of slack material and is positioned over the frame and held in position using the channel members. As previously described, the membrane can be constructed from a single layer of material or from more than one layer as required. When fitting the channel members it is preferable to start at the top of the frame. Thus, if the frame comprises an upper horizontal frame member, the membrane is attached to this first and then to the upright side frame members and finally to the lower frame member (if present). When securing the membrane care should be taken to ensure that sufficient slack material is provided between the frame members to permit the membrane to rest against the door, window, airbrick, or other part of the structure which is being protected. The channel members can then be secured using clamps or screws.

Once the membrane has been fully secured, any excess membrane outside ofthe frame can be trimmed. Where the barrier is provided to protect a doorway and the lower edge portion is to be sealed using sand bags, care shouldbe taken to ensure that there is sufficient membrane left along the lower edge on which to place the sandbags.

The frame members themselves can be made from any suitable material such as steel, aluminium, plastics or even wood. Preferably they are of a simple square section but other shapes can be used provided an effective seal is formed when the membrane is wrapped about the frame members by the channel members. The frame members can be manufactured using any suitable process such as extrusion. m a particularly preferred embodiment, the frame members are produced as a hollow box section and adjacent frame members are connected together at the required angle using an angled connector such as the connector 62 shown in Figure 8. The angled connector 62 can be made from metal or plastics and has a main body portion 64 defining the required angle, in this case a right angel, and two spigot portions 66 which project from either end ofthe mainbody portion. The spigot portions 66 are sized to be received within the hollow box section ofthe frame members and the main body portion 64 is sized to conform with the outer dimensions ofthe frame members. In order to construct a frame using angled connectors 62, it is simply necessary to cut the box section material to the appropriate lengths to form the elongate frame members and to connect adjacent frame members by inserting the spigot portions 66 of the connectors 62 into the ends of the adjacent frame members.

Similar connectors but with the spigot portions 66 arranged in-line could be used to connect two lengths ofbox section together in a straight line. This might be useful, for example, where the box section material is not readily available in a required length.

A number of methods can be used to firmly secure the membrane at a comer junction between two frame members. Figure 9, for example, shows an angled channel member 68 which can be positioned over a comer junction between two frame members. The angled channel member 68 would be used in combination with straight channel members to ensure a complete seal over the entire frame. Alternatively, the ends ofthe elongate channel members can be mitred to form an appropriately angled end joint as shown in Figures 1 and 3. A further alternative arrangement is shown in Figures 10 and 11. Figure 10 shows the end portions 70,72 of two channel members. One ofthe end portions 70 is formed by simply cutting the channel member at right angles to its

length. The other end portion 72 is formed with a cutout 74 in one of its sidewalls as can be seen best in Figure 11. The cutout 74, enables the channel member to be positioned flush with the end of its frame member, with an abutting frame member being received in the cutout. The upper surface of the end portion 72 may be bent downwardly to form an end wall 76.

Figure 12 shows two elongate box-section frame members 78,80 interconnected by means of an angled connector 62. Figure 12 also shows how the membrane 82 is secured about the comer by means of an angled channel member 68 and a pair of straight channel members 84,86.

It can be seen that a barrier in accordance with the invention can be simply and cheaply constructed to protect any shape and size of opening by using an appropriate selection of elongate frame portions and, where necessary, comer sections. The materials to construct the barrier can be provided in the form of a kit to be cut to size and fitted by the householder or an appropriately skilled fitter.

For use on buildings which are prone to repeated flooding, the frame members can be left permanently attached to the building so that it is simply necessary to reattach the membrane once a flood warning has issued. This can be achieved very easily and quickly. If necessary, the frame members could be disguised when the barrier is not in use to make the arrangement more attractive. For example, as illustrated in Figure 13, the upright frame members 14 about a doorway could be provided with attachment means for holding flower baskets 88 or other plant holders. Alternatively cover means may be provided which fit around the frame members to disguise them. Figure 14 shows how a horizontal frame member 90 above a window can be disguised by means of a sloping

cover 92 which acts as a rain guard. Alternatively, the frame members can be secured to the building using a screw or other fastener which engages with an anchormeans permanently located in the wall of the building. When not in use the frame members can be taken down and the silicon seal cleaned off. When considered necessary, the frame members can be reattached using the screws and anchor means and the silicon seal re-applied. Caps or other protective means may be provided for insertion into the anchors when the frame members have been removed.

In the embodiments previously described, the frame members have been secured to the wall or structure and the channel members placed over the frame members to trap the membrane between the channel member and the frame member. However, in certain circumstances, it may be desirable to fix the channel member to the wall or structure and to insert the frame member into the channel member to secure the membrane.

One such embodiment is illustrated in Figures 15 to 17 which show a door 100 positioned in a recessed doorway 101 in a wall 102 of a building. A barrier in accordance with the invention is indicated generally at 104 and is arranged to protect a lower portion of the doorway 101 from the entry of flood water. The barrier 104 comprises two generally U shaped channel members 106, 108 which are fixed to the wall on either side of the doorway so that the channels open outwardly. A flexible, water impervious membrane 110 extends over the entire lowerportion ofthe doorway 101 and over the two channel members 106,108. Corresponding frame members 112, 114 are adapted to be inserted into the channel members to trap the membrane between themselves and their respective channel members to provide a generally water tight seal. In Figures 16 and 17, the frame members are shown prior to insertion into the channel members for clarity.

The channel members 106,108 and corresponding frame members 112,114 are sized such the frame members are a snug fit within the channel members when the membrane is in position. As with the previously described embodiments, the walls ofthe channel members may have a degree of resilience to ensure that the frame members and membrane are tightly gripped in the channel members. Additional locking means (not shown) maybe used to prevent the frame members from being withdrawn from the channel members, for example by the force of the flood water. A bead of silicon seal 116,118 is applied along each side ofthe channel members 106, 108 to prevent flood water from seeping between the channel members and the wall 102.

The lower edge of the membrane may be secured using sandbags as described with reference to Figures 3 and 4 or a further channel member and frame can be provided along the lower edge according to requirements.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 15 to 17, a board 120 extends over the recessed doorway 101 to support the membrane and to prevent the membrane from entering the recess of the doorway. In order to facilitate location of the board 120, the channel members 106,108 are spaced from the edge of the recess and have laterally extending edge portions 122 on the outer ends of the channel walls. As can be seen most clearly in Figures 16 and 17, the board 120 is adapted to be slid between the edge portions 122 of the channel members 106,108 on either side of the doorway so as to be held in position.

It will be appreciated that in any one barrier, it would be possible to have some of the channel members secured to the wall and to have some of the frame members secured to the wall in any combination which is most suitable to the requirements of the barrier.

Whilst the barrier according to the invention has been described for use as a temporary barrier to protect an opening in a building from flood water, the inventive barrier can have other applications. For example a barrier in accordance with the invention could be used to form a temporary or emergency repair to a liquid tank. An appropriate selection ofmaterials, and particularly ofthe membrane, would be required to ensure that the barrier was impervious and resistant to the liquid contained in the tank. A barrier in accordance with the invention could also be used to form a temporary barrier for a river bank or canal structure.

Furthermore, whilst the barrier in accordance with the invention is primarily intended to provide a temporary liquid barrier, by an appropriate selection of materials the barrier could be used to provide an air or gas tight barrier for openings in a building. Such a barrier might be used, for example, to protect a household against biological or gas attack.

Claims

Claims 1. A barrier for preventing or limiting the passage of a fluid through an area of a structure, the barrier comprising a flexible membrane impervious or substantially impervious to the fluid for covering the area and means for securing the membrane to the structure, the securing means comprising a channel member and a frame member adapted to be received in the channel member to trap the membrane between itself and the channel member to form a substantially fluid tight seal, one of the channel member or the frame member being attachable to the structure.
2. A barrier as claimed in claim 1, in which the frame member is substantially square or rectangular in cross-section and in which the channel member has a correspondingly shaped crosssection, such that the membrane is securely held against at least part ofthree sides of the frame member.
3. A barrier as claimed in claim 2, in which the membrane has sufficient slack that it rests against part of the structure within the area to be protected such that, in use, the weight of the fluid is supported by said part of the structure.
4. A barrier as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the barrier provides a temporary barrier to prevent the ingress of flood water into a building.