METHODE DE CONSTRUCTION D'ELEMENTS MURAUX OU D'UN MUR DE SOUTENEMENT

PROCEDURE FOR CONSTRUCTING OF ELEMENTS A WALL OR AN EARTH SUSTAINING WALL

Abrégé anglais

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The invention relates to a wall or an earth sustaining
wall. Elements to be joined to each other by means of tongue-
and-groove elements, shaped in their horizontal section like
part of an approximately regular figure (i.e. congruent with it-
self after rotation through a given angle a) are assembled,
course by course, to form a wall. The tongue-and-groove joints
of the elements are intercalated course by course on opposite sides
of certain vertical lines so that the centres of the regular
figures of the tongues and grooves lie on straight lines. The
wall corners are formed by changing the direction of the elements
by rotating a basic component of the regular figure recurring
in the tongue-and-groove (e.g. the side of a polygon) through
the central angle of the figure or a multiple thereof.

Revendications

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A structure comprising building elements joined to
each other by means of tongue-and-groove joints having in section
the shape part of a substantially regular figure that is a figure
that is congruent with itself after rotation through a given angle
and assembled, course by course, to form a wall, the tongue-and-
groove joints of the elements being intercalated course by course
on opposite sides of vertical lines so that the centres of the
regular figures of the tongue-and-groove joints lie on said verti-
cal lines.
2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein wall cor-
ners are formed by elements angularly displaced relative to each
other by an amount equal to the centre angle subtended by the
sides of the regular figure as a multiple thereof.
3. A structure according to claim 1, whereby said sub-
stantially regular figure of at least one said element deviates
slightly from mathematical regularity, the sides of the figure
being slightly offset so as to render possible the angular displace-
ment demanded by curvature of the wall, or part of the groove ele-
ment being removed in order to provide a fold in the wall.
4. A structure according to claim 1, wherein at least
one said element is pierced by a semicylinderical cavity.
5. A structure according to claim 4, wherein semi-
cylindrical auxiliary elements which are anchored to the earth
by means of reinforcements passing around them are placed in cavi-
ties provided in the elements.

Description

This invention relates to a s-tructure made of elements
of concrete or like material.
Elements of concrete or like material are used to set
up walls for constructing houses, fences, earth sustaining walls,
etc~ For the purpose of stabili~ing the structure, to increase
its strength, to seal it and to facilitate its assembly, one- or
two sided groove-and-tongue joints are employed between the
elements. Finnish Patent Nos. 54170 and 50448 disclose modes of
erection that are applied in the case of earth sustaining walls.
In almost any kind of wall, vertical corners or angula-
tions of varying degree are needed. Apart from producing the
desired shape of the structure, such angulations may be necessary
to increase the rigidity of the wall, or for purely aesthetic
reasons .
According to the present invention there is provided a
structure comprising building elements joined to each other by
means of tongue-and-groove joints having in section the shape part
oE a substantially regular figure that is a figure that is con-
gruent with itself after rotation through a given angle and assemb-

led, course by course, to form a wall, the tongue-and-groove
joints of the elements being intercalated course by course on
opposite sides of vertical lines ~o that the centres of the regular
figures of the tongue-and-groove joints lie on said vertical lines.
With the inventive construction, the following advan-
tages are achieved: 1. The act by which angulation is obtained in
the wall surface is not different from a straight wall: the instal-
lation of elements proceeds according to the same piling principle.
2. The angle is composed of standard elements: no special units
are needed. 3. Mechanical shaping of the elements making up an
angle i5 rarely required (compare the use of the mason's pick
hammer when making a brick wall angulation); the need for shaping
is minimal. 4. The angulation is automatically formed at correct




-- 1 --

~ 3


location, needing no measuring or sighting, as long as the lowest
course has been correctly installed. 5. Even a wall with a yreatly
number of angulations can be rapidly built. 6. At the angulation,
the part of the element's tongue that is exposed becomes, in the
most typical form of the element, the angularly rounded surface
of the corner, and this is in harmony with the brick-like configura-
tion of the surface itself; this advantage becomes even more accen-
tuated if the facade surface of the elements has been bevelled.
7. The grooves and tongues are able, as a result of their shape
and their mutual positioning, to transmit e.g. the following loads:-

- horiæontal shearing forces in two directions - torsional moment
about a horizontal axis in the wall plane - horizontal bending
moment.
The invention will now be described in more detail, by
way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which:-
Figs. la ld show the facade of a wall and the horizontal
sections, where the formation of angulations is also shown;
Fig. ~ is a hoxizontal section of the tongue;
Fig. 3 shows a bevelled hollow element;
Fig. 4 shows variations of ~he joint polygon; and
Fig. 5 shows a method in which, with the aid of auxiliary
elements inserted in cavities, the wal~ is anchored in the backing
mass.
Figs. la and lb show a straight wall composed of elements
using an octagon for their groove-and-tongue configuration, in
facade view and in horizontal section. Figs. lc and ld show the
same horizontal section at an angle with the folding angle 45 and
90 degrees. In the latter case, one projection has been removed

from the groove side; this i5 achieved either by using an insert
in the mould or by chipping the projection off from the finished
element with a pick hammer.


Fig. 2 shows the tongue, the composition of its polygon
of component trian~les and the way in which the tongue portion of
the element in the course below is positioned (dotted line) when
installed by the present procedure.
Fig~ 3 shows elements on which the corners of the surface
left in view have been adjusted with bevels 3 and 4, and through
which run cavities 5 lined up on vertical lines L. It is possible
to place in these cavities elements which add to the strength of
the structure or facilitate its installing, such as pipes, rods
or small-sized elements.
Fig. 4 shows horizontal sections of tongue-and groove
assemblies where the polygon has been modified from its strict
mathematical shape by making the sides curved (Fig. 4a), by pro-
viding, within the tongue-and-groove, furrows 7 and ridges ~
(Fig. 4b), and by offsetting the corner point of the groove so
that the elements are enabled to subtend a small angle without
detriment to the tight fit of the groove and tongue (Fig. 4c).
It is easy with this method to build curved walls.
Fig. 5 shows a wall in which three elements are used,
two of them being pro~ided wi-th a cavity 10, in which anchoring
element 11 is placed. The anchoring element is tied in place by
means of a reinforcement 12 passing around it and in its turn
anchored in the earth mass in the way disclosed in the Finnish
Patent No. 59448.
The ability of the wall of the invention to form angles
is based on the vertical lines L (Fig. la), the requisite angular
change being accomplished by rotation about them.
The angular change between elements is achieved with the
aid of joint surfaces shaped as approximately regular polygons
(Fig. 2).
If the horizontal section of the joint surface is a
polygon with n sides, the first angular change that is feasible is




-- 3 --

3,. ;~ fÇ~ 9f P

~1 - 360/n clegrees, and -the next are a2 = 2 al, a3 al, and so on.
In the extreme case, n may be inf.ini-te, in which case stepless
angulation becomes pO5 sible.
The polygons arching about the same line L are located
on opposite sides of the line in each two element cours~s follow-
ing upon each other (Fig. 1). In this way an intercalated bond
is produced at every line L, which has a.n essential significance
regarding the bearing capacity of the wall, particularly at the
angulations.