GB2612848A

GB2612848A - Blast mitigation system

Info

Publication number: GB2612848A
Application number: GB2116495.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Clare Asman Poppy; Rebecca Woodcock Katherine
Original assignee: UK Secretary of State for Defence
Current assignee: UK Secretary of State for Defence
Priority date: 2021-11-16
Filing date: 2021-11-16
Publication date: 2023-05-17
Also published as: GB202116495D0

Abstract

A kit comprising a hexagonal gabion or wire mesh units. Fixing means may be provided to join the units together or they may be prefixed. The units may have a base and detachable lid and they may be manufactured from hessian, polypropylene or nylon.

Description

Blast Mitigation System The present invention relates to a mitigation system comprising hollow hexagonal modular units and a method of constructing a protective wall comprising filled hexagonal modular units.

Modular units for mitigation systems in the art, such as traditional sandbags are used in various places for various purposes, including for engineering works, flood barriers, constructing military operation bases or shelters and also for helping to mitigate against explosive blasts. In combat zones, blast protection walls can be rapidly assembled where they are required and can preferably be disassembled and packed away ready to be transported to the next location where a blast protection wall is required.

When such modular units are in use, they may be filled with a suitable filling material such as sand, earth, stone, water, rubble, gravel or other filling materials. A protective wall may comprise one such filling material or a plurality of filling materials depending on what the protective wall is intended for. The wall may be built with as much depth or height as is required by arranging further modular units either in additional rows to create additional depth or additional levels to create additional height.

Modular units in the art, such as traditional sandbags, usually have a rectangular shape, or other modular units, for example Hesca® modular units, used for defence purposes, are 20 cuboid.

One current problem with protective walls and especially rectangular or cuboid modular units is that each modular unit, and together the collection of modular units for protective walls, takes a long time to fill with the required filling, but moreover that sometimes the protection provided by the mitigation system may be breached.

There is therefore a need for improved mitigation systems, such as protective walls, and potentially improved modular units wherein the time taken to fill and consequently construct a protective wall may be reduced, ultimately minimising socio-economic disruption.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a kit for a mitigation system comprising a plurality of hollow modular units, wherein each of the individual modular units is substantially hexagonal in shape.

The hexagonal shape of the modular units provides an advantage in that the additional contact points between each hexagonal modular unit provides a lower perimeter to area ratio of any regular tessellation of the plane, and potentially improved protection. This provides a more compact mitigation system or protective wall whereby due to the modular units being hexagonal in shape, less modular units are required to construct a mitigation system, such as a protective wall, than using the rectangular or cuboid modular units in the art.

Advantageously, the hexagonal shape of the modular units removes the necessity to construct redundant corners to the mitigation system, which is currently the situation with use of rectangular or cuboid modular units, having to utilise additional modular units at those corners. This has an additional advantage whereby the time taken to construct a mitigation system from hexagonal units is significantly reduced, as fewer modular units are necessary, and indeed the time to fill the hexagonal modular units is also reduced compared to equivalent cuboid modular units. Overall, this reduces the total time taken to construct and fill the hexagonal modular units, reducing the amount of time areas may need to be shut down for a protective wall to be constructed and reduce the socio-economic impact of constructing a protective wall.

Preferably the modular units are fixed to each other via a fixing means; this could include a strap to fasten the modular units together. Alternatively, the hexagonal modular units may already be pre-fixed to one another by stitching or other manufacturing means, which may provide for a plurality of modular units providing a concertina of hexagonal modular units ready to construct. This has the additional advantage of saving time and consequently reducing the socio-economic impact of constructing a protective wall.

In a further aspect of the invention, the hexagonal modular units may be effected on an individual basis. Each modular unit is designed to be filled with a filling material.

Preferably, the filling material may be sand, water or earth, but other filling materials may also be used.

Preferably the modular unit has a base to prevent the filling material from escaping the modular unit at the bottom of the modular unit. The base may be an integral part of the modular unit, or it may be a separate element of the kit, to be placed separately into the modular unit where required.

Preferably the modular unit has a lid. This may be advantageous where the modular unit is filled with water and additional modular units are to be placed on top. The lid may be detachable or optional to use, and consequently may be a separate element of the kit.

Preferably the modular units have a metal mesh frame to provide structure to each modular unit. The metal mesh walls provide shape and strength to the structure of each modular unit.

Preferably the modular unit is made from a suitable sacking material such as hessian, polypropylene, nylon or other such material that will prevent liquid escaping the modular unit. The advantage of these materials is that they are flexible and therefore provide a means for the modular unit to be collapsed and be stored flat.

In a third aspect of the invention there is provided a method of constructing a protective wall comprising constructing hexagonal modular units around an object, wherein the protective wall comprises at least two rows of modular units around the object, wherein the inner, or first, row is filled with sand or water. The adjacent row of modular units is then filled with the alternative filling to the first row. This provides ultimate protection from an impending explosive blast, and the hexagonal nature of the units means that the protective wall can be constructed at a faster rate than regular cuboid-shaped units. Further additional rows with suitable filling (sand and/or water) may be added to the protective wall structure, or alternatively additional modular units could be added to the mitigation system as an additional level to the first level.

Alternatively, it is also possible to construct a protective wall wherein all of the modular units are filled solely with water or solely with sand.

The present invention shall now be discussed with reference to the following non-limiting figures and examples, wherein Figure 1 shows an example of a hexagonal modular unit Figure 2 shows an example of a concertina of hexagonal modular units Figure 3 shows an example of a protective wall using only sand as a filling material Figure 4 shows and example of a protective wall using both sand as water as filling materials.

Having regard to Figure 1, each individual modular unit is a hexagonal modular unit. The dimensions of each modular unit may have a volume of 0.87 rn3. A single modular unit may be connected to an adjacent modular unit via a fixing means such as a strap, buckle or interconnecting slots.

Alternatively, having regard to Figure 2, the hexagonal modular units may be in a concertina arrangement whereby a number of modular units can be assembled at the same time, saving time on constructing the overall protective wall.

The modular units may then be constructed next to one another to form a protective wall for example around an explosive device due to be detonated. The modular units may be filled with only sand as a filling material; additional rows of modular units may be added to the protective wall to further protect the surroundings from the blast of an explosive device.

Alternatively, the protective wall may be provided by filling some modular units with sand and some with water. This further reduces the amount of time to construct a protective wall as the modular units can quickly be filled with water as opposed to other filling materials.

Claims

Claims 1. A kit for a mitigation system comprising a plurality of hollow modular units, characterised in that the modular units are substantially hexagonal.
2. A kit according to Claim 1 comprising fixing means for connected the modular units to each other.
3. A kit according to Claims 1 and 2 wherein the plurality of modular units are pre-fixed together to provide a concertina of units.
4 A modular unit suitable for use in a mitigation system wherein the modular unit is hollow and suitable to be filled with filling material, characterised in that the modular unit is substantially hexagonal.
5. A modular unit according to Claim 4 wherein the unit has a base.
6. A modular unit according to Claim 4 and Claim 5 wherein the unit has a detachable lid.
7. A modular unit according to Claims 4 to 6 wherein the unit has a metal mesh frame.
8. A modular unit according to Claims 4 to 7 wherein the unit is made from a material selected from hessian, polypropylene or nylon.
9. A method of constructing a protective wall (mitigation system) comprising modular units according to Claims 4 to 8, around an object wherein the protective wall comprises at least two rows of modular units around the object wherein the first row of units about the object are filled substantially with water/sand and the second row is filled substantially with sand/water.