WO2010002234A1

WO2010002234A1 - Motorway central crash barrier

Info

Publication number: WO2010002234A1
Application number: PCT/MX2009/000061
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrés ZAMORA ANGELES
Original assignee: Zamora Angeles Andres
Priority date: 2008-06-30
Filing date: 2009-06-30
Publication date: 2010-01-07

Abstract

This invention relates to a concrete body (block) which has the main property that it is able to lessen and cushion the impacts of vehicles travelling along motorways, being deformed such that energy is drawn from the vehicle hitting it, thereby preventing the vehicle from rebounding with a force similar to its impact force and risking overturning or skidding off the road. It also has the property that it does not disintegrate when struck, thereby preventing fragments of concrete being scattered into the travel zone of vehicles passing in the opposite direction and causing another accident. It also includes two new features causing the vehicles to be deflected back onto their travel path, consisting of the "fender", i.e. the trimmed and smooth base, and the "head piece", or wide top part of the barrier body.

Description

BUCKET CENTRAL BARRIER FOR MOTORWAYS

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

This invention refers to a hollow concrete wall, with a pyramidal transverse configuration that divides the lanes in the opposite direction of the highways, and its main feature is the damping of the impacts it receives from the vehicles, modifying its internal structure and without disintegrating .

This novelty has as an essential object to reduce the human and material damages of the accidents that occur when the vehicles that circulate on the highways or main roads collide against the barriers that are placed in the central part of those road bodies and with the modification of their Profiles and internal structure also prevents a lot of accidents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The central dividing barriers that are currently placed on the highways, are solid concrete bodies, which were designed to prevent the invasion of vehicles to the opposite lane from which they must circulate, are constituted of heavy concrete blocks joined by steel links, and together they form a wall that is difficult to overcome by most vehicles, however, large trucks due to the size of their enormous wheels can jump it, or because of the great weight of these and with high speed they can drag it and in many occasions break it and disintegrate it, by consequence for these transports is the barrier to a certain extent a mere reference of the lane limit and not an obstacle that surely stops them. For cars or small vehicles it is something totally different, because when one of these projects against the barrier, an elastic shock occurs where the vehicle is considerably damaged and then violently rejected, with almost the same force that the car had before of hitting and can be thrown away from the highway to finally tip over. In many cases where the barriers are hit by a vehicle, they fracture and disintegrate into pieces of concrete of different sizes, which almost always fall into the opposite lane of circulation and often cause a second accident when they are hit by cars that pass where such fragments fell. There are also many accidents caused by the destruction of tires by the edges that in its lower part (which in the following will be called a ram) has a barrier model and also by the climbing and subsequent overturning with another type of barrier that has its ram stuck to the floor.

With the purpose of preventing cars from being destroyed by absorbing the energy of the crash in their impacts with the central barrier, it was thought to develop a body that was capable of absorbing much of the energy of the car, to transform the elastic shock into inelastic, and that the body of the barrier does not disintegrate when hit.

The retaining wall or damping barrier that this invention proposes has been created primarily to reduce the accident rate where said barrier intervenes and also to reduce its manufacturing and replacement cost, these concepts are what we seek to protect with the present application .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The main characteristics of this new containment barrier are clearly explained in the following description and in the following 8 figures that are attached.

Figure 1 is an isometric view of the block component of the barrier.

Figure 2 is a schematic cross-section of the block (1), in which its structure of concrete and steel is appreciated as well as its entrails or belly of sand (4) and plastic bubbles (5). Figure 3 is a linear schematic section of the block (1) in which the structure of the concrete, the sand belly (4), or vesicular stone aggregates, the distribution of plastic bubbles (5) and the location of the the rods (3) and link bolts, the distance of supports to the floor (6) that each block carries is also appreciated.

Figure 4 is a tear section where the structural shape of the concrete with the electro-welded mesh (2) and the connecting rods (3) can be seen.

Figure 5 is a top view of the block showing its perimeter shape where the sand can be seen, the placement of internal fittings (3) linked with the external elements (8) that join the blocks together and the electro-welded side mesh ( 2).

Figure 6 shows the contour of the barrier where the upper part of the barrier that shows a radial amplification with respect to the thickness of the body is marked in a circle, which in the following will be referred to as "head" (9), and in Ia lower part of the side that are the lower vertices of the pyramid is observed to be radially terminated, this part will be described hereinafter as "spur" (10)

Figure 7 shows a sequence of deformation of the block due to the impact of a vehicle.

Figure 8 shows the metallic joining elements (8) between blocks.

In view of the previously described figures, it can be seen that the barrier block or segment is a pyramidal profile body with a widening in the upper part that is constituted by a concrete shell (1) armed with two mesh side sections electro welded (2) which will serve to prevent its disintegration when hit by a vehicle, and two corrugated rods (3) that will serve as a link with the blocks of the same barrier that will precede and follow, this body stores in its inside an amount of black sand (4) Ia which is an element with some fluidity that will allow the body to be deformable and energy absorbing when it is hit, the sand can be replaced by another type of collapsible and fluid elements, the volume of sand It is accompanied by hollow bodies that can be of various materials such as corrugated cardboard, dry ice, inflatable plastic bodies such as illustrated some plastic bottles (5) of screw cap that must be covered, and not broken, crushed or punctured. They will make the function of air bubbles. In the lower part of the block and located transversely to its longitudinal axis, there are the legs or supports (6) that will serve the block to let rainwater pass and thus avoid flooding, with these spaces it is easy to pass cables or elements mechanics necessary to move them when it is necessary to resurface the road where they are installed, the block also has a vertical groove (7) on its connecting sides that will serve to place the link fitting (8) with which a block is connected with another.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

This block is made of concrete with a resistance to compression according to the one that the technical authority of the road work dictates, the concrete is deposited in a mold that has the figure of the block, where previously the electro-welded mesh has been installed and also the mold that will leave the hollow for the heart of black sand or aggregates vesicular and air bubbles, is subjected to a period of vibration and the mold of the heart is extracted, the sand is introduced simultaneously with the plastic bottles that will make the bubbles, or porous aggregates, subsequently placed an electro-welded mesh section that will serve to reinforce the lower part of the block and finish filling the mold with concrete, cover the mold with a steel lid that is filled of equal dimensions to the base of the block and rotated 180 degrees to extract the already formed piece, it is allowed to rest on the lid, finally the mentioned lid is removed and left stand for 1 day. FUNCTIONING OF THE INVENTION

The damping barrier works as follows: When, due to various situations, a car is too close to the damping barrier proposed here, to the degree of rubbing the lower part of the barrier with a radiated and smooth termination with the tire, it is repelled and realigned on its route without risk of tire damage and with a high probability that the vehicle can be controlled. When the onslaught of the vehicle against the barrier is with little angle of attack and with speed, it will try to climb with the two tires of the contact side on the barrier and could reach such a point that it turns over the side that leads opposite to the barrier , to avoid this situation, the head of the wall will not allow the car or truck to climb on it by pushing through a contact with the vehicle body and leaving the tire with which the vehicle was climbing without contact with the barrier. This situation occurs more in trucks and buses.

If the ramming of the barrier is at an angle of 15 degrees or more, the side of the block will break and break down but not disintegrate into the block because the air containers (plastic bottles) that are inside the block block will explode with the force of the impact, the sand will move to occupy the spaces left by the collapsed bodies absorbing part of the energy of the blow, the side of the block opposite the blow will break but will not disintegrate thanks to the link of the electro welded mesh that the block has on both sides.

Finally, if the impact is very large, the block will move from the place where it is placed, dragging along the adjacent blocks by means of the union of steel elements.

Claims

CLAIMS Having broadly described my invention, I consider it a novelty and therefore claim as my exclusive property as described in the following claims.

1. Central damping barrier for highways comprising the consecutive and linear placement of concrete bodies (1) as described: a monolithic concrete body (1), with a pyramidal, hollow cross-section, with thin walls, as if a shell, with a widening (10) towards its base or lower section, said body (1) has 2 lateral sections on its longitudinal side, an upper end or head (9) opposite the lower base, a front end, an end rear, where both the front and rear ends have a vertical groove (7) that projects from the base of the body (1) to the upper end of the body: this barrier is characterized by the fact that the inside of the body (1) is filled of sand (4) accompanied by hollow bodies that will make the function of air bubbles, where said sand allows the body (1) of the barrier to be deformable and energy absorbing when the body (1) is hit by a vehicle or: each of the lateral and longitudinal sections of the body (1) is also made up of concrete by an electro-welded mesh (2) which allows it to prevent the disintegration of concrete when hit: at its base and on its external upper "head" (9) has a corrugated rod (3) that joins a linkage fitting (8) arranged in each of the vertical grooves (7) of the body (1), said fittings allow bodies such as the described they are linked with other equals thus forming a barrier, these bodies rest on a plurality of legs or supports (6) arranged and integrated transversely in the lower bed of the base.

2. Central damping barrier for highways in accordance with clause (1) further characterized by the fact that the hollow bodies can be of Corrugated cardboard structure, polystyrene, inflatable plastic, and other materials that can form a collapsible body (5).

3. Central damping barrier for highways in accordance with clause (1): further characterized in that the pyramidal body has a widening at its upper end or "head" (9) that serves to repel vehicle climbs and avoid overturns .