Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
8 7 7
HIGHWAY AND AIRPORT SOUND BARRIERS
PRE-STRESSED HOLLOW CORE CONCRETE PANELS
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to highway and airport
sound barriers, outdoor walls projecting upward fifteen to
thirty feet to absorb and diminish or reflect vehicle
noise, often incorporating sound absorbing materials to
reduce the impact of traffic or aircraft noise on
surrounding neighborhoods.
Related Art
Sound barriers of wood, reinforced concrete or
plastic materials, or combinations of these materials,
have been erected beside airport runways and highways in
many parts of this country. They may be zig-zagged
serpentine structures, although many such barriers are
high, substantially flat walls, formed with vertical
columns spaced apart along the length of the barrier
supporting sound-absorbing or sound-reflecting flat
vertical panels arrayed between the columns.
United States patents illustrating various sound
absorbing and sound reflecting or blocking structures
.
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include the following: 4,899,498; 4,838,524; 4,605,090;
4,566,558; 4,558,850; and 4,136,856.
Summary of the Invention
The sound barriers of this invention employ H-cross
section vertical columns, preferably of reinforced
concrete or structural steel, with their lower ends
embedded in caissons buried underground extending fifteen
to twenty feet deep. These columns have their upper ends
projecting fifteen to thirty feet above the earth's
surface. The crossbars of the H are generally positioned
to form column webs aligned substantially perpendicular
to the source of sound, such as the adjacent roadway,
with the flanges of each H cross section column extending
parallel to the roadway and forming between themselves a
vertical groove facing the next adjacent column, which
may be twenty, twenty-five, or thirty feet away. One,
two, three or four elongated thin flat panels forming the
structure of the sound barrier extend lengthwise from the
lateral groove on one side of a column of this assembly
parallel to the roadway into embraced engagement in the
facing vertical groove of the next adjacent vertical
column.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present
invention is to provide novel sound barriers for outdoor
installation beside highways or airport runways which are
effective and highly economical in construction.
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Other objects of the invention will in part be
obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of
construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of
parts which will be exemplified in the construction
hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention
will be indicated in the claims.
The Drawinqs
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects
of the invention, reference should be made to the
following detailed description taken in connection with
the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIGURE 1 is a front view of a sound barrier 100 of
the present invention.
FIGURE 2 is a side view of the sound barrier 100 in
FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 3 is a partial side of the sound barrier 100
in FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 4 is a partial plan view of an H-shaped
column 110 of the sound barrier 100 in FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 5 is a cross-section view of the column 110
in FIGURE 4.
FIGURE 6 is a view of a corner column 110' of the
sound barrier 100 in FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 7 is a front view of another embodiment of a
sound barrier 200 of the present invention.
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.
FIGURE 8 is a side view of the sound barrier 200 in
FIGURE 7.
FIGURES 9-11 show a means for connecting panels 230
to a column 210 shown in the sound barrier 200 in FIGURE
7.
FIGURE 12 is a view of a sound barrier 200
constructed on contoured landscape.
FIGURE 13 is another embodiment of a sound barrier
300 of the present invention.
FIGURE 14 is a side view of the sound barrier 300 in
FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 15 is an alternative embodiment of the sound
barrier 300 in FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 16 is a partial view of a column 310 of the
sound barrier 300 in FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 17 is a plan view of a column 310 of the
sound barrier 300 in FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 18 is a partial side view of a column 310 of
the sound barrier 300 in FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 19 is a plan view of a corner column 310' of
the sound barrier 300 in FIGURE 13.
FIGURE 20 is an end elevation view of an alternative
embodiment of the sound barriers 100, 200, 300 shown in
the FIGURES above.
FIGURE 21 is a diagrammatic fragmentary end
elevation view of the sound barrier 130.
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Best Mode for Carryinq Out the Invention
The invention features an elongated outdoor acoustic
barrier for erection along a roadway or the periphery of
an airport, for reflecting and absorbing sounds emanating
from the roadway or airport.
In one embodiment shown in FIGURES 1-6, a sound
barrier loo has a plurality of substantially vertical
columns llo arrayed at spaced intervals'along the sound
barriers' length. Each column 110 has a recessed groove
112, 114 (FIGURES 4 and 5) extending along its exposed
above-ground lateral surface facing a corresponding
recessed groove of an adjacent spaced column llo. The
sound barrier 100 also has a plurality of elongated flat
rectangular panels 130 arranged in a vertical edgewise
array at least one panel in height, having opposite panel
ends 130a, 130b each securely embraced in a respective
recessed grooves (FIGURES 4 and 5) of a pair of adjacent
columns 110.
The reinforced concrete columns 110 respectively
have their lower ends firmly anchored in large
cylindrical concrete caissons 150 which are typically
2.5'- 3.5' in diameter for example, and extending
downward up to twenty-five feet or more into the earth.
The upper end of each caissons 150 may be at grade level
or may itself be buried four to eight feet below the
earth's surface, which may be banked upward in a berm
extending along the path of the sound barrier loO. The
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line 115 illustrates the upper surface of such an earthen
berm in FIGURE 1. Above berm 170, columns llo may extend
upward as high as thirty feet, for example, and the above
ground portion of the structure is best shown in FIGURE
1. As shown in FIGURE 1, the one bottom edge of the
column 110 extends into ground cover about one foot, and
the ground cover would normally have a finished grade.
As shown in FIGURE 1, each column 110 is a
reinforced concrete post having an extending reinforced
cage 112 embedded in the caisson 150. Typically, the
reinforced cage 111 extends six feet and six inches into
the caisson 150.
As shown in FIGURES 2 and 2a, each panel 130 has a
tongue 134~ on one edge 134 and a groove 136a on its
opposing edge 136 for firmly holding two or more panels
in place when they are stacked one on top of another.
As best shown in FIGURES 2, 2a and 3, each panel 130
is preferably an extruded pre-stressed hollow core
concrete panel, as indicated by the substantially
elliptical hollow spaces or passages 190. Each of the
panels 130 is an extruded pre-stressed hollow core
concrete panel having a plurality of substantially
parallel longitudinal hollow spaces also known as
passages 190 extending throughout and having a plurality
of prestressed reinforcement strands 192 (as shown in
Figure 21) embedded therein and arranged between adjacent
pairs of the substantially parallel longitudinal passages
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190.. Each panel 130 is made from a high-strength mix.
The panel may have three different mixes, one on each
face 195, 196 and a structural core 197 as show in FIGURE
21. One face 195 which faces the source of the sound S
may be made up of a sponge-like characteristic for good
sound absorption. The other face 196 which does not face
the source of the sound S may be treated by anything,
such as being colored, broomed, raked or ribbed for
decorative purposes.
The absorptive face 195, if used, is a concrete mix
consisting of light weight sound, cement, and aggregate,
and having a high level of air to create voids. This
combination normally produces concrete weighing about 150
pounds per cubic feet. The newly developed concrete will
weigh about 75 pounds per cubic feet, and has a noise
reduction factor of at least about 0.5, and preferably
about 0.8 to 0.85. This concrete will not have the
compression strength of the core.
The spaces 190 extend throughout the panel 130 and
are shown only in particular portions of the exposed
upper edges of panel 130, but it will be understood that
these openings 190 formed by the hollow cores during the
extrusion process extend along the entire longitudinal
length across the width of each panel 130.
As shown in FIGURE 1, each panel may have an equally
spaced vertically scored pattern 135 for deflecting the
sounds emanating from the roadway or airport. The panels
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130 may, for example, also have an equally spaced
horizontal ribbed pattern 236 (FIGURE 7) or a randomly
spaced horizontally spaced scored pattern 237 (FIGURE 7)
for deflecting sound waves. The panels may also have no
scored pattern as indicated by numeral 238 (FIGURE 7).
This feature of the panel 130 can also be used with the
other embodiments discussed below with respect to FIGURES
7-19.
In another embodiment, each panel may have a surface
layer of sound absorbent material 195 (see above), which
may be bonded to the exposed face of each panel 130,
facing toward the sound source, as best shown in FIGURES
20 and 21. The use of such sound absorbent material on
sound barriers is well known, but the combination of this
material with the extremely sturdy and unusually
lightweight hollow core panels of this invention, such as
an extruded pre-stressed hollow core concrete panel, is
believed to be unique and never before suggested.
The sound barrier 100 can be used with or without
the sound absorbing material 195. In either case, the
barrier lOO provides an extremely low cost barrier,
provides better sound absorption or deflection than
existing barriers of other materials, has an unusually
long useful life, and makes the barriers of this
invention highly economical and of unexpected economic
value in the construction industry.
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The feature of a sound absorbing material on the
panel 130 can also be used with the other embodiments
discussed below with respect to FIGURES 7-19.
As shown in FIGURE 3, the sound barrier loO may have
a nonshrink mortar step 175 which separates a bottom
panel 130 and the caisson 150 for raising the height of
the sound barrier loo. As shown, the nonshrink mortar
step 175 has a height of about one foot and one inch.
The feature of the nonshrink mortar step 175 may also be
used with the other embodiments discussed below with
respect to FIGURES 7-19.
As shown in FIGURE 4, the sound barrier loo includes
a nonshrink leveling grout 180 with a depth of one inch
separates a bottom panel 130 and the caisson 150. The
feature of the nonshrink leveling grout 180 may also be
used with the other embodiments discussed below with
respect to FIGURES 7-19.
As shown in FIGURES 4-5, each H-shaped columns 110
has a thick sturdy cross section formed of concrete,
which can be reinforced by suitable conventional rebars
113. Column llo incorporates a central crossbar web llOa
and two flanges llOb, llOc together defining two lateral
grooves 112, 114 extending up its entire vertical side
surfaces. As shown in FIGURE 1, each groove 112 of each
column 110 faces the opposed groove 114 of the adjacent
col D 110, with the flanges llOb, llOc of the columns
110 embracing the ends of structural panels 130. These
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are preferably formed as elongated thin flat rectangular
panels positioned on edge with their flat ends fitting
closely in the recessed grooves 112, 114 of successive
columns llo. The recessed grooves 112, 114 are
rectangular in shape and have a length of about seven
inches and a depth of about three inches. Typically,
each panel 130 has a width of about six inches and is
extended two and one half inches into the respective
recessed groove 112, 114. This leaves room for expansion
by the panel 130 of one half inch on all sides of the
recessed groove. The shape of the recessed groove 112,
114 may also be non-rectangular as well.
As shown in FIGURE 6, the sound barrier loo includes
a corner column loO' having grooves 112', 114' arranged
at a 90 degree angle.
FIGURES 7-12 show an alternative embodiment of a
sound barrier 200. In FIGURES 7-12 features similar to
the embodiment in FIGURES 1-6 are similarly numbered.
As shown in FIGURES 7, the sound barrier 200 has
concrete posts 210, each of which is a precast,
reinforced concrete post having a concrete lower end 211
for extending into and being embedded in a caisson 250,
typically also about six feet and six inches, or it may
be connected with anchor bolts and base plates.
FIGURE 8 also shows the concrete lower end 211 embedded
in the caisson 250.
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FIGURES 9-11 show connectors for fastening together
columns 210 and panels 230. Each panel 210 has a
unistrut channel 240 cast therein, and each column 210
also has a unistrut channel 250 cast therein. A bolted
connector 260 is fixedly disposed in both the unistrut
channel 240 of each panel 130 and the unistrut channel
250 of each column 210, for securely connecting them
together.
Although not shown, this concept of the channels
cast in the panels and columns and having bolt
connections to secure the panels to the columns can also
be used in the embodiment shown in FIGURES 1-7.
As shown in FIGURE 12, each panel 230 is shaped as a
parallelogram for contouring the sound barrier 200 to the
particular grade of the landscape.
FIGURES 13-19 show still another alternative
embodiment of a sound barrier 300. In FIGURES 13-19
features similar to the embodiment in FIGURES 1-6 and 7-
12 are similarly numbered.
As shown in FIGURE 13, the sound barrier 300
includes steel columns 310, each having a steel base
plate 320 welded thereto. The steel base plate 320 has
apertures (not labelled) for bolts 322 to pass through
and extend into a caisson 330.
FIGURE 15 shows each column 310 having the bolts 322
embedded in the caisson 330, which is itself reinforced
by a steel cage 332.
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FIGURES 16 and 18 shows the sound barrier 300 with a
nonshrink leveling grout 380 with a depth of one inch
which separates the steel plate 320 and the caisson 350
(not shown), and a nonshrink mortar step 375 which
separates a bottom panel 330 and the caisson 350 (not
shown) for raising the height of the sound barrier 300.
FIGURE 17 shows that each steel column 310 is shaped
as an "H" and has recessed grooves 312, 314. The steel
base plate 320 is welded thereto with the bolts 322 in
place.
FIGURE 19 shows that the sound barrier 300 includes
a steel column 310 as a corner column 310' having
recessed grooves 312' and 314' arranged at a 90 degree
angle.
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth
above, and those made apparent from the preceding
description, are efficiently attained and, since certain
changes may be made in the above construction without
departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended
that all matter contained in the above description or
shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted
as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following
claims are intended to cover all of the generic and
specific features of the invention herein described and
all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a
matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.
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It should also be understood that features described with
respect to one embodiment may be used as features in
another embodiment.
