Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to a method for forming
a cellular structure for containing loose material to
stabilize and reinforce soils.
As it is known, cellular structures for containing
5 loose materials to stabilize and reinforce soils, commonly
termed "geocells", are formed by means of nets that are
mutually joined so as to form closed spaces in which loose
materials, such as gravel and the like, are introduced.
For example, patent GB 2,078,833 discloses a structure
10 in which the joint is provided by means of a system known
in the art as "bodkin". This type of joint has considerable
drawbacks in terms of application, since, in order to
provide it, one has to fold along the joining line one of
the two nets to be joined and insert the portion of the
15 folded net in the loops of the second net, causing it to
exit from the other side and making an iron rod pass in the
space that is thus formed, for providing connection between
the two nets.
This type of joint is scarcely practical and scarcely
20 versatile, since it becomes difficult to use in on-site
applications if it is necessary to join materials difficult
to fold, such as for example metal materials.
Other known methods, such as for example the one
disclosed in patent US 4,394,924, provide for the forming
25 of cells constituted by cube-liXe or parallelepipedal
gabions in which considerable problems are encountered in
providing the joints at the closing edges, which are
obtained by interweaving metal wires.
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A principal aim of the invention is to solve the
above described problems by providing a method for forming
a cellular structure for containing loose material to
stabilize and reinforce soils, in which it is possible to
5 quickly join the nets without having to mutually
interpenetrate them, but simply by using elements that
require the mutually adjacent arrangement of the nets.
A particular object of the invention is to provide a
cellular structure that can be obtained with nets of any
10 type and particularly with plastic nets having single or
double orientation or no orientation at all, or metal nets
having an appropriate pattern, such as preferably a pattern
with a substantially square or rectangular mesh.
Another object of the present invention is to provide
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15 a method that allows to obtain a very wide range of cell
shape types according to the particular kind of
application.
A further object of the present invention is to
provide a method that allows to couple multiple mutually
20 superimposed nets, thus obtaining a considerable variety of
structural shapes for the geocells.
With this aim, the objects mentioned and others which
will become apparent hereinafter in view, there is
provided, according to the invention, a method for forming
25 a cellular structure for containing loose material to
stabilize and reinforce soils, which i5 characterized in
that it consists in arranging side by side at least one
portion of at least two nets; in arranging a joining
element where the nets are adjacent, lnserting it from the
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~ outer face of one of said nets and making it exit from the
outer face of the furthest adjacent net; in connecting at
least one locking element, which can engage said outer
faces and said joining element, to the portions of said
5 joining element that exit from said outer faces; and in
mutually connecting said nets in multiple spaced points to
form multiple cells that are peripherally delimited by said
nets.
Further characteristics and advantages of the method
10 for forming a cellular structure will become apparent from
the following detailed description of some preferred but
not exclusive embodiments thereof, illustrated only by way
of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate plan sectional views of
some of the possible configurations that can be assumed by
the cellular structure formed by the method of the present
invention;
figure 4 is a view of a spiral-shaped joining element;
figure 5 is a view of a joining element with
interconnected rings;
figure 6 is a view of a joining element with
independent rings;
figures 7 to 11 illustrate respectively: the step in
25 which the nets are arranged mutually adjacent; the step for
inserting the joining element; the step for locking the
joining element; and the step for positioning the locked
net and the optional application of a second locking
element;
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figure 12 is a perspective view of two nets joined by
a ~piral-shaped joining element with a locking element;
figure 13 is a view of two nets joined by a spiral~
shaped joining element with two locking elements;
figure 14 shows, in a perspective view, the joining of
two nets by means of a junction with independent rings;
figure 15 is a top plan view of the solution of figure
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figure 16 illustrates, in a plan view, the mutually -:
lo adjacent arrangement of two folded nets with a spiral-
shaped joining element applied by screw-like insertion;
figure 17 illustrates the screw-like insertion of the
spiral-shaped element; :
figure 18 is a plan view of the spiral-shaped element
15 applied by screw-like insertion; and .
figure 19 is a perspective view of two nets joined by
a spiral-shaped joining element applied by screw-like
insertion. ~:
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With reference to the above figures, the method for
20 forming a cellular structure for containing loose material :
to stabilize and reinforce soils, according to the
invention, consists in arranging side by side two or more
nets, respectively designated by the reference numerals 1,
2 and 3, in the case of the mutually adjacent arrangement
25 of three nets, in at least one region, preferably arranging
the nets so that the meshes are distributed in a matching
arrangement.
The overlap can be provided by fully superimposing
the two nets or simply by superimposing them in some preset
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regions.
Once the overlap has been performed, a joining
element, which can be variously formed, is applied in the
selected joining regions.
As shown in figure 4, it is possible to provide a
joining element which is constituted by a spiral 10 or,
optionally, as illustrated in figure 5, by a joining
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element 20 with rings 21 that are joined by a vertical bar
22.
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lo According to a different embodiment, it is possible to
use independent rings 30 according to methods that will be
described in detail hereinafter.
In practical use, after arranging the nets side by
side, a joining element, constituted either by the spiral
15 10 or by the joining element 20, is inserted from the outer
face of one of the nets until it exits from the outer face
of the furthest adjacent net.
In this manner, the joining element, the axial length
whereof is preferably equal to the height of the nets,
20 engages the outer face of the net from which said joining
element is inserted.
Once the joining element has been inserted, a locking
element, constituted by a locking bar 40, is applied and
inserted either in the turns of the spiral 10 or in the
25 interconnected rings 21 protruding from the outer face of
the furthest net.
In this manner, the locking element is in practice
retained between the outer face of the net and the part of
the joining element that protrudes therefrom.
Optionally, as illustrated for example in figure 11,
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it is possible to apply a second locking element between
the outer face of the net through which the joining element
has been inserted and the joining element itself, thus
forming an additional reinforcement element.
Use of two locking elements is instead necessary if
the independent rings 30 are used, as shown schematically
in figures 14 and 15, where there are two locking bars 40
that are arranged substantially parallel to each other and
are optionally obtained by bending an iron rod 50 so that
10 it becomes U-shaped.
In this solution it is possible to use independent
joining rings, designated by the reference numerals 30a and
30b, which are arranged above and below, and optionally an
intermediate independent joining ring 30c, and it is also
15 possible to place only two independent rings arranged above
and below the regions affected by the nets, since the
purpose is to form a joining and stiffening element in the
placement of the two locking bars.
According to a different embodiment which is
20 conceptually linked to the preceding ones, it is also
possible to use the spiral-shaped element 10 by screwing it
between the two nets 1 and 2, which are advantageously
arranged side by side in a limited region, as illustrated
in figures 16 and 17, and by screwing the spiral-shaped
25 joining element so that its various turns in practice
surround and engage the horizontal portions of the meshes
of the two nets, thus forming the joint directly without
necessarily having to apply the locking bar, since the
joining element itself provides the locking action.
It is fundamentally important for all the above
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described solutions that the nets are joined without
providing a preliminary interpenetration of the nets,
consequently allowing to considerably simplify all the
coupling steps and allowing to produce the most disparate
5 structural configurations, since it is possible to mutually
overlap more than two nets, thus obtaining, in the forming
of the cells, the most suitabla arrangement ~or the
particular type of reinforcement to be provided.
To the above, for the sake of completeness in
10 description, it should be added that the pitch of the turns
of the element 10, as well as the mutual distance between
the interconnected rings 21 of the joining element 20, must
be equal to, or in any case a submultiple of, the pitch of
the meshes, thus allowing very easy insertion, since once
15 the nets are overlapped there are no obstacles to the
insertion of the joining element from one net toward the
other net, allowing easy exit for consequent locking.
Since the turns have a pitch matching the spacing of
the meshes, an equally simple installation is obtained if
20 the joining element is applied by screwing.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible to
numerous modifications and variations, all of which are
within the scope of the inventive concept.
All the details may furthermore be replaced with other
25 technically equivalent elements.
In practice, the materials employed, as well as the
contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to
the requirements.
