WO1997029268A1

WO1997029268A1 - Device for securely closing an aperture in a protective structure

Info

Publication number: WO1997029268A1
Application number: PCT/CH1997/000017
Authority: WO
Inventors: Werner Heierli
Original assignee: Heierli & Co. Patentverwertungsgesellschaft
Priority date: 1996-02-05
Filing date: 1997-01-21
Publication date: 1997-08-14
Also published as: EP0879338A1

Abstract

The device of the invention is designed to seal apertures in protective structures subject to dynamic loads with high, brief peak loads and/or a very rapid load build-up. Likewise, the device is suitable for sealing areas in which explosions or other mechanical forces may occur and for the secure containment of the effects and after-effects of such occurrences. In the device of the invention the aperture's closure (2, 3) is supported by means of elasto-plastic shock absorbers (1) against the bearing regions of the protective structure (10). There are preferably bearings or guides (9) for the shifting of the closure likely in the event of a load. The structure of the invention may take the form of a wing, roller or sliding gate or may even be gastight. It may also be effective in opposite loading directions. Elasto-plastic locks and clearances between the body and frame of the gate also ensure that the seal is protected against the effects of a shock arising from an explosion or earth tremor or the like.

Description

Device for securely closing an opening in one

Protective structure

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a device for securely closing an opening in a protective structure, which is potentially loaded by short-term loads occurring within a few milliseconds or suddenly increasing, in particular caused by explosions, with load peaks of up to several hundred bar, with one in front of the opening movable closure element.

Devices of this type serve on the one hand to complete the protective structure against external threats, but on the other hand and particularly to close off rooms in which, for example in the case of explosives or ammunition chambers, violent effects from any explosions of the magnitude mentioned can occur. The locking device must also be able to withstand bodies, fragments or liquids thrown against it. In certain cases, gas tightness is also required. STATE OF THE ART

With e.g. Solutions known from civil protection applications cannot easily cope with the aforementioned extreme loads. Diplomas for civil protection applications only have to withstand comparatively low loads in the order of one to a few bar. These can easily be accommodated by a sufficiently stable gate body which rests on a gate frame anchored in the protective structure and can be locked with it in the closed state.

If one wanted to use the known civil defense solutions for applications in which the extreme loads mentioned can occur, the door bodies would have to be made much more stable and therefore thicker and stiffer; This would make their essential natural oscillation times very short and their plasticity correspondingly short. Even brief load peaks would cause high stresses on the goal body and goal frame. This would be the case in particular when subjected to shear stress, where plasticization before breakage usually only occurs to a very small extent. At most, this could still be managed for relatively small light masses and for people passing through. For larger masses of light, which can also be passed by vehicles, in particular large trucks, the door body masses would be so large that they would no longer be economically feasible and would also hardly be operable. For these reasons, complex additional measures have already been provided, such as additional tunnel sections or baffles before the end.

So far only the so-called block device is known as the only reasonably inexpensive solution, cf. for example "Underground Ammunition Storage, Model Test to Investigate the Strength and Effectiveness of a Selfclosing Concrete Block", Norwegian De- fence Construction Service, Oslo, Norway, March 1974, with further evidence. This is a device which was specially developed for the safety of the surroundings of underground ammunition stores. In the event of accidental explosions in underground ammunition chambers, the block acts as an automatic locking mechanism. The block essentially consists of a wedge-shaped reinforced concrete block which is placed in the interior of the storage chamber, in front of the exit, but with sufficient clearance for transport vehicles. The accident-related internal pressure then throws it into the opposite exit opening like a wedge and closes it.

The disadvantages of a block device are as follows:

• The block mechanism is only activated when the explosion pulses are relatively large. There is no protection in the event of accidents with smaller pulses.

• To ensure the specific operating requirements of the system (e.g. required access dimensions for vehicles), the block must be placed at a considerable distance from the exit opening. This means that under certain circumstances a significant part of the explosion effects

(Pressure, gases, splinters, fire) escapes before the block closes the opening; the protection is therefore incomplete. In the case of explosive or ammunition chambers, there is also the danger that unexploded ammunition or explosive parts will be thrown out. This could make the closure more difficult to access and clear up.

The block device provides no protection against the effects from the opposite side and also no protection against unintentional authorized access, unless additional, elaborate closing organs are ordered.

Block devices can generally only be used once, since the block jams in its end position in the event of an explosion and can only be broken open with great effort and hardly ever in a non-destructive manner.

Finally, block devices alone cannot be used to implement an underground ammunition storage complex with several chambers. Even if each chamber is protected by its own block device, there is a risk that an explosion in one of the chambers will cause the others to go up.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a termination device of the type mentioned at the outset which avoids the abovementioned disadvantages and ensures the full protection required in an economically and operationally optimal manner. This object is achieved according to the invention by a device as specified in claim 1. The device according to the invention is accordingly characterized in that the closure element is elasto-plastically supported in or in front of the opening relative to support zones of the protective structure and that the elasto-plastic support enables a deformation path of at least 50 mm.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are characterized in the dependent claims. The impact of the high, short-term loads is decisively reduced (up to an order of magnitude) by the elasto-plastic support, so that - compared to previous solutions with rigid supports - a technically and economically much better solution is created. In this way, gate constructions with gate bodies and gate frames can be used as the closure elements, which have gate thicknesses and support dimensions that are within a reasonable range from the point of view of costs and operation.

The present invention also enables economical and technically convincing, reliable solutions where the feasibility of a closure was in question at all with the rigid bearings used hitherto.

Compared to rigid mounting, the elasto-plastic mounting of the closure element has the further advantage that the impact surcharge, which can be up to 100% in the case of elastic systems and rapidly increasing loads, can be greatly reduced or almost completely eliminated. In addition, the swinging back of the closure element (so-called rebound) and resonance effects directly after the load are much less thanks to the elastoplastic bearing.

The closure device according to the invention can be used to effectively protect a closure element, for example comprising a gate body and a gate frame, against excessive stresses, damage and corresponding deformations. This avoids that the closure can no longer be opened and closed after the explosion, since the unit consisting of the door body and frame remains unaffected. For the same reason it is possible to achieve a gas tightness of the closure and to maintain it even under a high load. There- can also provide protection against fire gases, fire heat, splinters and / or flying parts of all kinds.

For the elasto-plastic support, discrete shock absorbers are preferably used, which have a pronounced, statically and dynamically predictable, testable, elongated flow plateau in the plastic range, in which the dynamic flow load changes only insignificantly. Of course, the deformation path must be dimensioned sufficiently.

Terminations of the present type are primarily stressed by forces acting uniformly and perpendicular to the plane of the opening. Non-uniformly acting forces or those that have a component parallel to the gate body plane can, however, cause e.g. Distributed, discrete elastoplastic shock absorbers deform unevenly and the closure element thereby moves into an angled position relative to the starting position. Individual shock absorbers could also be overstressed as a result. The closure element is therefore preferably, e.g. by means of a suitable slide bearing, installed and mounted in such a way that uneven and / or lateral deformations of the shock absorbers are avoided.

The invention also makes it possible to implement underground ammunition storage complexes with a plurality of ammunition chambers, since the individual ammunition chambers can always be completely sealed off from one another.

Shear keys can also be provided as an elastoplastic support.

Further advantages and refinements of the invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES

Show it:

Fig.l A horizontal section (A-A in Fig. 2) through a first embodiment of a protective construction closure according to the invention with a gas-tight swing gate.

2 shows a vertical section (B-B in FIG. 1) through the arrangement according to FIG.

3 shows a horizontal section (C-C in FIG. 4) through an embodiment of a protective construction closure according to the invention, with a gas-tight sliding gate.

4 shows a vertical section (D-D in FIG. 3) through the arrangement according to FIG. 3.

Fig.5 A detail of a sliding joint.

6 shows a horizontal section (E-E in FIG. 7) through a simplified embodiment of a protective construction closure according to the invention, for a non-gas-tight sliding gate running on rollers.

7 shows a vertical section (F-F in FIG. 6) through the arrangement according to FIG. 6.

8 shows a vertical section of a possible variant of FIG. 7 with regard to the arrangement of the elasto-plastic shock absorber and displacement guide.

Fig. 9 The characteristic form of a possible load diagram for the protective construction completion according to the invention. Fig. 10 The characteristic form of a further possible load diagram, the so-called "step function" (very rapid load increase to a certain load level).

11 shows the typical dynamic load-deformation behavior of an elasto-plastic shock absorber for the protective construction closure according to the invention.

FIG. 12 A variant of FIGS. 7 and 8. Here, instead of the elastic shock absorber, a shear key 25, which can also be deformed elastically, is provided.

WAYS OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Fig. 1 shows a typical example of an extremely resilient and gas-tight swing gate. The goal body 3 has the task of protecting the area 11 from the effects of a war-like or accident-related explosion or other mechanical violence in the area of origin 12, hereinafter also referred to as the load side. The gate body 3 and the gate frame 2 are supported on the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1. The latter are connected to the goal frame 2 and the supporting structure 10 (connections 4, 5) in such a way that the dynamic flow load P _Fl ^ (FIG. 11) and also possible rebound forces can be transmitted. It should be noted, of course, that sufficient deformation space 6 (FIG. 1) is provided for the elastoplastic shock absorbers 1.

A sliding joint 9 is provided between the goal frame 2 and the supporting structure. This enables unimpeded and cleanly guided displacement of the door frame 2 in the direction of loading and prevents jamming in the case of asymmetrical loads. It can be largely gas-tight and the prevent intrusion of air or gas pressure. A closure is (sufficiently) gas-tight if the internal pressure in the protective structure can be maintained in the order of 20 - 200 Pa.

The fastening of the gate body 3 to the gate frame 2 and the tightness between the gate body 3 and the gate frame 2 can be accomplished in the usual way, ie by means of hinges, gate lock and gate seal 8, because the gate body and the gate frame form a unit and therefore only very small Suffer shifts relative to each other.

Since the gate body 3 is embedded in the gate frame 2 so that it cannot be pushed on all sides in the closed state, it is also resistant to side displacements in the case of forces parallel to the gate, e.g. consequently splintering effect, secured.

The connections 4, 5 can also ensure gas tightness if necessary. In cases where neither the specific design of the elasto-plastic shock absorber 1 nor the sliding joint 9 guarantee gas tightness, a thick-walled sheet metal 7 can take over this function. In addition, cover plates 24 can be provided on the load side 12 against the ingress of pressure surges into the sliding joint 9.

FIG. 2 shows a vertical section through the arrangement of FIG. 1, the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 being arranged only laterally.

A possible alternative to FIG. 2 is that the elastic shock absorbers 1 can also be arranged below and above, ie on all four sides, as shown in FIG. 4. Other options, such as arranging elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 only below and above, on three sides or only at individual points would also be possible.

3 shows an example of an extremely resilient and gas-tight sliding gate closure. Here, the gate body 3 is laterally displaceable in a goal slot 21, a floor channel 22 (FIG. 4) or rollers arranged there serving as a guide. Similar to the swing gate (Fig. 1), the gate body 3 and the gate frame 2 are supported as a unit on the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1. The gate body 3 is secured against rebound forces by a pressing device 13 and at the same time pressed against the gate seal 8. A dilatation joint 14 is provided on the loading side 12. A circumferential sliding joint 9 ensures that the gate body 3 and the gate frame 2 can move freely and cleanly against the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1.

Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of Fig. 3 in vertical section. The elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 are also arranged above and below, i.e. on all four sides. Alternatives as shown in Fig. 2 are also possible here. In cases where (comparatively small) loads have to be accepted from the other side of the closure, the pressing device 13 and the door body 3 are to be designed for the corresponding forces on the predominantly rigid system. Of course, shock absorbers 1 can also be arranged in the dilatation joint 14 in this case, if this is necessary and economical, at most in the form of foam intermediate layers 18. This creates a seal that optionally selects the area 11 before an event in the area 12 protects or area 12 from an event in area 11.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, cover plates 24 are additionally provided against lateral pressure surges. As a shock protection measure, ie as a measure in the event that the 4, the engagement dimension d, of the goal body 3 in the goal frame 2 is greater than the clearance d ^ of the goal body 3 in the goal frame 2 required for the displacement.

FIG. 5 shows a possible embodiment of the sliding joint 9. It is important that the sliding surfaces have sufficient planarity so that clean guidance is ensured and the door frame cannot get stuck in the sliding joints. This can be achieved, for example, with appropriately stiffened steel sheets 19. A sliding layer 20 e.g. made of graphite or fat between the sheets 19 reduces the sliding resistance to a required level.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of an extremely heavy-duty closure for cases in which no gas tightness is required. A roller door 3 running on rollers 23 is provided here. Figure 6 shows the gate body 3 in the closed state. In this example, the elastic shock absorbers 1 are fastened in the lateral, vertical torn slots 21. The small gap 15 between the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 and the door body 3 is kept to a minimum, so that the expected installation and operating tolerances can just be maintained. A possible alternative for the arrangement of the elastoplastic shock absorbers 1 is that the latter are attached to the gate body 3 instead of to the torn niches 21.

The sketched arrangement indicates that a certain "leakage" of explosion gases is possible through the existing spaces 16 between gate body 3 and gate niches 21, ie that a completely tight seal is not achieved. Likewise, in this example, the door body 3 and / or the door frame are not guided properly, as is achieved in the first example (FIGS. 1 to 5) by means of the sliding joints 9. This simplifies the design, of course, but also means that a possible jamming of the door body 3 must be accepted in the case of asymmetrical loads, which does not make it impossible to open the door after extreme loads, but makes it difficult. However, this limitation is acceptable and useful for many practical applications.

In cases where any loads also have to be absorbed from the other side of the closure, further shock absorbers 17 can be provided, as indicated in FIG. 6. If necessary, they also serve to absorb rebound forces. The closure could also be constructed completely symmetrically with respect to the areas 11 and 12 using additional elastic shock absorbers 1. This also applies in the same way to other of the embodiments shown in the figures.

Not shown in the figures are the closures or locks of the door body, which lock the door in the closed state. These can also be made elastoplastic, so that they are suitably protected from the shock generated by the explosion effect.

As an alternative, FIG. 8 shows the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 arranged above and below. This type of arrangement is advantageous where the height of the gate body is substantially smaller than its width and where at the same time a coverable gutter 22 does not cause any operational difficulties. In cases where the gate body shape is approximately square, the arrangement of the elasto-plastic shock absorbers 1 on all four sides, ie on both sides and below and above, can prove to be economical. FIG. 9 shows a typical load diagram m P / t, which essentially consists of a short-term (up to ts, a few ms) and extremely high load peak with a peak pressure Ps (up to several hundred bar) and a subsequent, longer (up to tg, some 100 ms) lasting load Pg, at a much lower level (up to several 10 bar). With a large ratio Ps: Pg, which is often the case in practice, the dimensioning to the dynamic support forces becomes critical, provided that rigid bearings are provided, and often leads to uneconomical solutions.

The elasto-plastic shock absorbers counter this problem in an optimal way. The extreme load peak (Ps, ts) accelerates the (softly mounted) door frame and / or the door leaf with the mass m in the direction of load to the speed v. The kinetic energy mv ^2/2 is absorbed by the elastoplastic shock absorbers and converted into deformation work P _{n # dyn} * δ and then into heat, P _{pl <dyn} denoting the dynamic flow load and 6 the deformation path of the shock absorbers. These, as well as the gate body, can be dimensioned so that with their dynamic flow load they can absorb the smaller, quasi-static load (Pg, tg) without large deformations. The shear and bending stresses of the door body (and door frame) are reliably limited. The contact forces can never be greater than the sum of the flow loads of the shock absorbers - always provided that shock absorbers with a sufficient deformation path (FIG. 11) have been selected.

10 shows a further typical form of loading, the so-called "step function". It essentially consists of a load P which increases very rapidly (theoretically: suddenly, tr = 0) to a maximum value Pmax, which is maintained for a certain time or at least only slowly decreases. Become If such loads are applied to linear-elastic systems, impact surcharges (dynamic load factors) of up to 100% result. The advantage of the termination system according to the invention is that these impact surcharges can be reduced or avoided entirely. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the impact surcharge can be reduced to 10% by setting the shock absorber flow load P _Fljdyn to 1.1 Pmax.

11 shows the typical dynamic load-deformation behavior of an elasto-plastic shock absorber as used in the termination system according to the invention. It is important to note that the same has a pronounced, testable, elongated flow plateau, which can also be predetermined for a high degree of flexibility, and that the dynamic flow load P _fl changes only insignificantly in the plastic deformation range. This ensures a reliable prediction of the behavior of the termination system under the computational load. Of course, it must be ensured that the plastic deformation path δmax is sufficient. This can easily be up to several 100 mm and, for example, be designed for up to 500 mm. If this is not the case, the door is hard-bearing when the shock absorbers break through; it can then take up limited additional loads until its load capacity is exhausted.

FIG. 12 finally shows a variant of FIGS. 7 and 8. Here, instead of the elasto-plastic shock absorber 1, a shear key 25 that is also elasto-plastically deformable is provided. The push plate 25 is embedded in the door body 3 on the one hand and runs in a guide trough 26 on the other hand. A corresponding arrangement is also present at the top. The push plate can be a steel plate with a thickness of one to a few centimeters. The space 16 between the gate body 3 and the structure 10 must be at least approximately twice the thickness of the thrust plate Reach 25. The guide trough 26 must be approximately twice as wide as the thickness of the thrust plate 25. In the event of a load, plastic deformation paths between 50 and 100 mm (or more) can be realized (see dotted representation of the deformed protective plate).

All drawing figures are executed on a scale of 1: 100. This does not mean that the implementation of the invention is limited to this scale. The indication of the scale is only intended to give an impression of the possible or usual size of the termination devices according to the invention.

LIST OF DESIGNATIONS

1 elasto-plastic shock absorber

2 goal frames

3 goal bodies

4 Connection to the supporting structure

5 Connection to the goal frame

6 deformation space

7 thick-walled sheet

8 gate seal

9 sliding joint

10 supporting structure

11 area to be protected

12 area of origin or load side

13 pressing device

14 dilation joint

15 gap

16 spaces

17 more shock absorbers

18 foam pads

19 steel sheets

20 sliding layer

21 tornic

22 floor channel

23 rolls

24 cover plates

25 thrust plate

26 guide trough

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. A device for securely closing an opening in a protective structure (10), which is potentially loaded with short-term loads occurring within a few milliseconds or suddenly increasing, in particular caused by explosions, with load peaks of up to several hundred bar the opening movable closure element (2, 3), characterized in that the closure element (2, 3) is elasto-plastically supported in or in front of the opening in relation to support zones of the protective structure (10) and that the elasto-plastic support is one Deformation path of at least 50 mm allows.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the closure element (2, 3) is essentially rigid, i.e. is largely dimensionally stable and designed to withstand the loads mentioned.

3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the closure element (2, 3) is elasto-plastically supported by means of individual, discrete elasto-plastic shock absorbers (1).

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that the elasto-plastic shock absorbers (1) have a load deformation behavior with a pronounced flow plateau in the plastic region.

5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the closure element (2, 3) is elasto-plastically supported on all sides, on three sides or on two parallel, opposite sides.

6. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the closure element comprises a gate body (3) which is elasto-plastically supported relative to the support zones of the protective structure (10).

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that the support zones are formed by a gate frame rigidly anchored in the protective structure (10).

8. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the closure element comprises a goal body (3) and a goal frame (2), the goal body (3) against the goal frame (2) substantially rigid and the goal frame ¬ men (2) against the support zones of the protective structure (10) is elastoplastic.

9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that a seal (8) is provided between the gate body (3) and the gate frame (2).

10. Device according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the gate body (3) is formed as a wing, sliding or rolling gate or as a vertically or obliquely movable gate.

11. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a gap is present between the closure element (2, 3) and the support zones of the protective structure (10) and bridges and closes this by a deformable sealing element (7) is.

12. The device according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that for absorbing loads from different, opposite directions, the displacement Closing element (2, 3) is elasto-plastically supported on its two sides in relation to support zones of the protective structure (10).

13. Device according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the closure element (2, 3) is guided in the expected loading direction by means of a guide, the guide preferably in the form of a plurality of largely gas-tight sliding joints (9) and further is preferably designed such that jamming of the closure element is also ruled out in the case of asymmetrical and / or partially gate-parallel load components.

14. Device according to one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that an elasto-plastic locking with appropriate clearance, in particular of the goal body (3) relative to the goal frame (2) is provided.

15. Device according to one of claims 8 to 14, characterized in that the gate body (3) is formed as a wing gate and is embedded in the closed state in the gate frame (2) secured against lateral displacement.

16. The device according to one of claims 8 to 14, wherein a joint (9, 14) is present between the goal frame and the supporting structure, characterized in that this joint is covered on the load side with cover plates (24).

17. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that the gate body (3) is designed as a sliding or rolling gate or as a vertically or diagonally movable gate and parallel to the door leaf level and in particular perpendicular to the direction of displacement, a certain margin (d2) in a goal frame (2) or a Tornische (21) and that this scope (d2) less is dimensioned as the engagement dimension (dl) of the goal body (3) in the goal frame (2) or the goal niche (21).

18. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that in the case of a sliding or rolling door, the closure element (3) with one or more anchored in it, in one or more guide channels (26) in the support structure (10) guided thrust plate (s) (25) is elastoplastic.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that between the closure element (3) and the supporting structure (10) there is an intermediate space (16) bridged by the thrust plate (s), the thickness of the thrust plate (25) smaller than the dimension of the intermediate space (16) and the guide groove is approximately twice as wide as the thickness of the thrust plate.