Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21D—SHAFTS; TUNNELS; GALLERIES; LARGE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS
  • E21D11/00—Lining tunnels, galleries or other underground cavities, e.g. large underground chambers; Linings therefor; Making such linings in situ, e.g. by assembling
  • E21D11/14—Lining predominantly with metal
  • E21D11/15—Plate linings; Laggings, i.e. linings designed for holding back formation material or for transmitting the load to main supporting members
  • E21D11/152—Laggings made of grids or nettings
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21D—SHAFTS; TUNNELS; GALLERIES; LARGE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS
  • E21D11/00—Lining tunnels, galleries or other underground cavities, e.g. large underground chambers; Linings therefor; Making such linings in situ, e.g. by assembling
  • E21D11/04—Lining with building materials
  • E21D11/10—Lining with building materials with concrete cast in situ; Shuttering also lost shutterings, e.g. made of blocks, of metal plates or other equipment adapted therefor
  • E21D11/107—Reinforcing elements therefor; Holders for the reinforcing elements

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a structural reinforcement device and to a methods of forming the same.
• the present invention relates to devices that provide structural support to curved and partially curved surfaces such as the walls and roofs of tunnels.
• the invention further extends to methods of providing structural support, particularly to curved and partially curved surfaces and to a structural support assembly.
• Structural support is required in many fields of construction.
• An area of particular interest is in providing structural support to the roof and walls of tunnels, mines and shafts.
• Tunnels underground passageways
• Tunnels are well known in the art and have been used for centuries in various guises. Tunnels often have curved roofs and straight or curved walls, usually as a result of the machines that are used to dig the tunnel.
• a structural reinforcement device comprising a frame having a longitudinal axis, at least a portion of the said longitudinal axis being generally arcuate, the frame comprising a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinal rods arranged generally parallel with each other and with the longitudinal axis of the frame, the longitudinal rods being linked together by one or more laterally extending linking member, the or each linking member being arranged to link the longitudinal rods together in an undulating manner to thereby form an upper plane in which at least a first of the longitudinal rods is situated and a lower plane in which at least a second of the longitudinal rods is situated.
• the frame is then filled with a filler material such as by spraying concrete thereinto.
• structural reinforcement is provided by a combination of a cross-linked frame and a filler material. Accordingly, the preparation and installation of a structural support device of the present invention is much easier than prior art structural reinforcmement devices that use large steel frame structures, because that of the present invention is much lighter.
• the frame comprises at least three laterally spaced longitudinal rods; more preferably at least four.
• the or each linking member comprises an undulating linking member.
• the upper and lower plane are generally parallel with each other.
• at least two longitudinal rods are in the upper plane.
• at least two longitudinal rods are in the lower plane.
• the structural reinforcement device may be modular.
• the structural reinforcement device may comprise one or more frame.
• the frame may comprise joining means operable to allow it to be joined to other similar frames.
• the joining means may be operable to allow frame members to be joined laterally or longitudinally.
• the joining means may comprise an overlap section in which a portion of adjacent frame members overlap.
• the frame further comprises securing means operable to allow the frame to be secured to an adjacent surface.
• the securing means may comprise one or more aperture.
• the securing means are attached to one or more of the longitudinal rods.
• the securing means comprises one or more apertures formed between a longitudinal rod and a securing rod.
• the securing means may comprise an undulating rod attached to a longitudinal rod, which undulation may cause the undulating rod to deviate away from and back toward the longitudinal rod, thereby forming a plurality of apertures.
• the undulating rod may comprise a series of peaks and troughs and is preferably attached to the longitudinal rod generally at one or more nadir of the undulating rod, more preferably generally at each nadir of the undulating rod.
• the inventors have invented a surprisingly simple and efficient way of forming the frame, starting from a basic starting material and with little extra manufacturing steps.
• a method of forming a frame for a structural reinforcement device comprising the steps of applying a first pressure to one or more longitudinal rods on a grid of overlapping rods, the longitudinal rods being parallel with a longitudinal axis of the grid, to thereby deflect the or each longitudinal rod to which the first pressure is applied from the plane of the sheet; applying a second pressure to a portion of the or each longitudinal rod to which the first pressure is applied at one or more position between lateral rods to thereby cause the or each longitudinal rod to which the first pressure is applied to buckle and form an arcuate portion on a longitudinal axis; and adding a further longitudinal rod to a portion of the or each longitudinal rod to which the second pressure has been applied to thereby secure the rod in its buckled position and reinforce the arcuate portion of the longitudinal axis of the frame.
• the amount of pressure applied in the "second pressure" will determine the extent to which the longitudinal axis becomes arcuate.
• the sheet of overlapping rods comprises rods arranged generally parallel and perpendicular with each other, thereby forming a grid of generally rectilinear apertures, ie a rectilinear grid.
• the grid is a regular grid, more preferably a Cartesian grid.
• the sheet of overlapping rods is in the form of a grid of generally square apertures.
• the first pressure is applied substantially along the length of the one or more longitudinal rods.
• the or each longitudinal rod to which the first pressure is applied is deflected from the sheet by bending lateral rods that cross link adjacent longitudinal rods, preferably into an inverted generally bell shaped curve.
• the second pressure is applied in a generally opposite direction to the direction of the first force.
• the further longitudinal rod is preferably parallel with longitudinal rods of the grids which have not had a first or second force applied thereto.
• the rods are secured to each other at the cross over points by suitable means, such as, for example, welding etc.
• a method of providing structural reinforcement to a partially curved surface comprising the steps of arranging and securing a frame of a structural reinforcement device of the first aspect, or as made by the method of the second aspect, adjacent to a surface to be reinforced.
• the method comprises arranging and securing a number of frames adjacent to a surface to be reinforced.
• the method may comprise adding a filler material to the or each frame.
• the filler material may be any appropriate filler. For example, stones, sand, aggregate etc.
• the filler material comprises a curable material, such as a concrete material.
• the method may further comprise covering the or each frame with a mesh material, such as a wire mesh, for example.
• a mesh material such as a wire mesh
• a structural reinforcement assembly comprising a structural reinforcement device the device comprising a frame having a generally arcuate longitudinal axis, the frame comprising a plurality of laterally spaced longitudinal rods arranged generally parallel with each other and with the arcuate longitudinal axis of the frame, the longitudinal rods being linked together by one or more laterally extending linking member, the or each linking member being arranged to link the longitudinal rods together in an undulating manner to thereby form an upper plane in which at least a first of the longitudinal rods is situated and a lower plane in which at least a second of the longitudinal rods is situated, the frame being filled with a filler material.
• the structural reinforcement device may be covered with a mesh material, such as a wire mesh.
• the filler material may be any appropriate filler.
• the filler material comprises a curable material, such as a concrete material.
• the assembly may comprise securing means securing the structural reinforcement device to an adjacent structure.
• the securing means may comprise one or more pole, which may extend into the adjacent structure.
• the securing means are arranged generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the frame. All of the features contained herein may be combined with any of the above aspects and in any combination.
• Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a frame
• Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the frame in a second configuration
• Figure 3 shows an end view of the frame in the second configuration
• Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the frame in a third configuration
• Figure 5 shows a grid frame in a fourth configuration
• Figure 6 shows an end view of an extended frame
• Figure 7 shows a structural reinforcement device of the invention formed from the frame in the fourth configuration
• Figure 7a shows an enlarged view of a section of the structural reinforcement device of figure 7;
• Figure 8 shows a perspective view of a section of an extended structural reinforcement device of the invention
• Figure 9 shows a second embodiment of a structural support device of the invention.
• Figure 10 shows a sectional view of overlapping sections of a structural reinforcement device.
• FIG 1 there is shown a perspective view of a frame 102 in the form of a grid of open squares formed by securing overlapping metal rods secured together (by welding) at generally right angles to each other.
• the frame 102 of figure 1 there are three horizontal rods 104, 106, 108 being generally parallel with each other along a longitudinal axis of the frame, and five vertical rods 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, 1 18 being generally parallel with each other, but generally perpendicular with the horizontal rods 104, 106, 108 (and therefore generally perpendicular with the longitudinal axis of the frame 102).
• Figure 2 shows the frame 102 in a second configuration 202 after having a pressure applied across the length of the centremost of the three horizontal rods 106 as shown by arrows "A" in figure 1 .
• This downward pressure has caused the vertical rods 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16 and 1 18 to bend to form an inverted generally bell curved shape.
• figure 3 shows an end on view of the second configuration 202 of the frame 102.
• the third configuration 302 is a result of applying pressure to the centremost of the three horizontal rods 106 of the frame in the second configuration 202 at points between the vertical rods 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, 1 18, as shown by arrows "B" in figure 2.
• This applied pressure has the effect of bending the horizontal rod 106 at several points, forming an undulating rod 106, causing the frame 102 to buckle slightly, resulting in the longitudinal axis thereof becoming curved, as shown in figure 4.
• FIG 5 there is shown the frame 102 in a fourth configuration 402.
• the fourth configuration is a result of adding a securing rod 120 to the frame 102 to secure the frame in the curved configuration of the third configuration 302 as discussed above with reference to figure 4.
• the securing rod 120 is curved in a similar manner to the horizontal rods 104 and 108, as shown in figure 5 and thus runs generally perpendicular therewith.
• the frame described above with reference to figure 5 can be used to form a structural reinforcement device of the invention as will be described hereunder.
• FIG 6 there is shown an end view of a frame 502 being equivalent to that shown in figure 3, but where the initial frame is larger (has more horizontal rods) and is bent to form an inverted generally bell curved shape at more than one place. Accordingly, in figure 6, the frame has six horizontal rods 504, thus the vertical rod shown 506 has two inverted bell shaped sections 508, 510. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that this structure can be extended to a frame with a very large number of horizontal and vertical frames.
• a securing rod 620 is also shown in figure 6, which will be described below in relation to figure 7.
• a structural reinforcement device 602 being formed from a frame similar to that (but larger than, ie with more vertical bars) of the the frame 102 in the fourth embodiment 402.
• the structural reinforcement device takes the form of a curved beam which, in use, is used to support curved structures, such as the walls and roofs of tunnels.
• a section of the reinforcement device 602 is enlarged and shown in figure 7a.
• the reinforcement device is formed from the frame 102 in the fourth configuration as shown in figure 5 having horizontal rods 604, 606, 608, vertical rods 610, 612 and a securing rod 620.
• horizontal rods 604, 606, 608, vertical rods 610, 612 and a securing rod 620 are of particular interest, as will be discussed in detail hereunder, as will be discussed in detail hereunder, is the aperture 622 defined between the undulating horizontal rod 606 and the securing rod 620.
• Figure 8 shows a perspective view of a section of a structural reinforcement device 702 derived from a frame as described above with regard to figure 6. It will be appreciated that the number of horizontal and vertical rods can vary depending on the requirements of the user. For ease, structural reinforcement device of the invention can be provided in sections. For example, a section comprising six horizontal bars (as shown in figure 8) and, perhaps ten vertical bars could be provided, but with means to attach it to similar sections (longitudinally and laterally).
• the device 802 comprises parallel straight (non arcuate) side walls 804, and an arcuate roof section 806.
• the side walls are formed from sections of frame similar to that described above in relation to figure 2, ie before the longitudinal axis is bent into an arc, whereas the roof section 806 is curved by bending a longitudinal rod 808 at various places and adding a securing rod 810 to hold the curved portion in its curved position.
• the device may be used to transfer the load from the curved roof via the straight walls 806 to the ground 812.
• a structural reinforcement device of the present invention may be used on surfaces that have curved and straight sections.
• FIG 10 there is shown a cross sectional view of two overlapping frames 902.
• a first frame 904 and a second frame 906 are substantially identical in cross section and, in use, in order to extend the area to which the structural reinforcement device may be deployed, ends 908, 910 may be overlapped and secured together, using bolts, for example (not shown).
• the frame for use in a structural reinforcement device of the invention can be simply and easily prepared from a flat sheet of overlapping rods requiring minimal process steps, thus being quicker, easier and cheaper to manufacture than prior art devices.
• the device can be made into any required angle of curvature and can have straight and curved portions.
• the structural reinforcement device is used as follows.
• a user when digging a tunnel, shaft or mine, may first dig away a roof section, then secure an arcuate portion of the frame to the roof (similar to that described above in relation to figure 7) by driving a rod through the apertures 622.
• the section of frame reinforces the roof, then allowing a user to reinforce the walls, be they straight or curved, by securing further frame members to the frame member that is secured in place.
• the roof under which the user is working is reinforced while the user works underneath it.
• the structure may look like that shown in figure 9, and the digging and reinforcement of the tunnel, shaft or mine may be continued by repeating this process. This is done by overlapping and securing sections of frame together as shown in figure 10, and by further securing the new frame member to the previous frame members by pushing the rods through the apertures 622 as described above.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Reinforcement Elements For Buildings (AREA)
• Body Structure For Vehicles (AREA)
• Bridges Or Land Bridges (AREA)
• Rod-Shaped Construction Members (AREA)
• Lining And Supports For Tunnels (AREA)

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Publications (2)

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• 2010
  • 2010-02-11 GB GBGB1002324.0A patent/GB201002324D0/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-05-27 WO PCT/GB2010/050878 patent/WO2011098747A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-12-17 WO PCT/GB2010/052142 patent/WO2011098748A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-12-17 ES ES10805626T patent/ES2939539T3/es active Active
  • 2010-12-17 EP EP10805626.8A patent/EP2534338B1/en active Active
  • 2010-12-17 PT PT108056268T patent/PT2534338T/pt unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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