Water Containment System
A temporary dam system for containing a body of water is provided. The temporary dam system is constructed with a number of dam sections. Each dam section has three or more supports and a back brace for supporting a resistant membrane backed by a plate. The supports comprise an end support, a middle support, and a top support in an A-frame structure. A membrane backing plate is attached to the front of the assembled support structure. The overall containment dam system is constructed by connecting dam sections together to form a continuous wall of rigid plates facing a body of water. A flexible liquid-impervious membrane is then placed over the rigid plates to contain the water.
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGNot applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(1) Field of the Invention
This application is directed to field of temporary water containment dams and more particular a portable system that can be assembled into a temporary water containment dam.
(2) Description of Related Art
Temporary dams or dikes are often needed to hold back water, whether for emergency flood control, water diversion, repairs to structures normally surround or covered by water such as bridges or banks, construction projects, etc. Conventionally, sandbags and earthen berms or dams are used in these situations to form dikes to contain the water, however, these methods are time consuming and very labor intensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,333 by Wiseman et al is an attempt to provide a temporary type of structure, but it lacks practicality due to the frequent support structures, and the membrane used to contain the water is poorly supported.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,733 by Krill et al is a design requiring significant foundational support. As a practical matter, it is not very portable or mobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,140 by Kullberg is another attempt to provide a temporary type of structure, but it also lacks practicality and economy due to the excessive weight/design of the membrane support face, which is very heavy. Also, the design lacks consideration to ensure that a multi-curve path can be followed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,904 by Trisl is a solid wall containment system. The design is very heavy, complicated, and the pipe/rod system requires field bending. Field installation is labor intensive; requiring training and special tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,872 by Perry et al describes a water filled modular system. The design is complicated and it is questionable that the design would be stable under actual hydrostatic pressure conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,177 by Hughes is a solid wall containment system. The design is very complicated, heavy, and needs soil for weight to stabilize the base. The system is difficult and unappealing to utilize in the event of a natural disaster where it needs to be installed by a flood. Also, no consideration is given except for a straight system design.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,628 by Serota is a water filled plastic design structure, stayed by a wire anchor system.
The design is overly complicated for a temporary dam system requiring an excessive amount of work to fill the various structures with water in place.
Sandbags are a method to build a temporary containment wall or dike, and it is a very labor intensive method. Because the sand bags are stacked on top of each other to form the wall, and the wall often wall needs to be relatively high, it is often the case that the base needs to be wider than the top. Additionally, not only is it time consuming to fill and place the sandbags, it takes a lot of labor to deconstruct sandbag walls after they are no longer needed. In emergency situations, it is often hard to prioritize the labor to deconstruct the sandbag wall after a crisis is over.
In the case of a simple earthen dam, large machinery is often needed to construct it and deconstruct it, and this can be troublesome or even dangerous in the circumstances.
Additionally, earthen dams and sandbags can involve a relatively high environmental impact. In the case of sandbags, sand left behind from the sandbags can have an environmental impact. In the case of earthen dams, often the dirt for the dam is taken from the site causing an impact on the surrounding environment and often the earthen dam cannot be completely leveled when it is no longer needed, leaving traces of the dam behind.
A number of portable dam devices and systems have been developed for creating temporary water containment dikes because of the time and labor requirements needed to create a temporary containment wall of sandbags or an earthen dam. These devices have been developed to be relatively transportable and quick to set up with less labor required than needed for sandbags or earthen dams. They typically consist of a framework that can be assembled at a site to create the temporary dam.
These systems also have to be sufficiently strong to withstand the hydrostatic pressure that can be exerted as a result of having to hold back a body of water. Additionally, because they will have to be quickly set up on whatever ground surface is present at the site of the body of water, they have to be relatively compact to be transportable, and relatively quick to set up.
It is highly desirable to design a system that uses unskilled labor to assemble, such as can be constructed on site during an impending disaster, with confidence that it's simplicity is reasonably foolproof in design.
Further, it is desirable to design a system using a minimum amount of supports per length of dam, so that a system could be erected as quickly as possible when a flood on a river, lake, or similar body of water, will soon occur due to an unpredictable event. It is also desirable to utilize a support system that is light weight and can be readily transported by manual labor, so that trucks can deliver the containment system parts to a central location, and then the actual erection and construction is handled by human labor when the parts have to be carried by hand over moderate to long distances. In particular, it is desirable that no piece is too large or heavy for one or two individuals to carry. A weight of approximately 50 lbs or less would therefore be desirable for a single individual to carry, or 100 lbs or less for two people.
It is additionally desirable to provide a design that is easily adaptable to ground terrain conditions, so that a long portable water containment system could follow a multi-curved path based on a lake front, waterfront, beach line, river bank, tree line, property line, path, roadway, etc. For example, an entire lake may need to be surrounded by a temporary water containment system.
These requirements have resulted in previously designed systems being relatively complicated, consisting of numerous heavy braces, overly rigid connection points, fixed designs, and complicated support members. Especially in the case of lateral support, the previous systems often require quite complex ways of linking the temporary structure to provide lateral support, which often involves numerous braces and lateral support members.
In particular, previous attempts have difficulties with providing light weight designs and simplified adaptability to changes in following a multi-curved path.
Accordingly, there is a need for a portable and temporary dam system that is sufficiently strong to contain a body of water, yet relatively simple, transportable and easy to set up.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method that overcomes problems in the prior art.
An embodiment of the present invention is a supporting structure, a membrane support plate, and a water membrane which contacts the water and contains it. The supporting structure is light weight in design, and alternates in three primary parts: an end support frame and a middle supporting frame. A top supporting frame is also included in many embodiments, but not in all. The design features simplified field erection, light weight transportation, and an efficient design for following a field directed path without the use of surveyors.
An important embodiment of the present invention includes additional structures which allow convenient methods to turn the support structure and membrane support plate in a way that allows the water containment system to follow a curved path rather than only follow a straight line. Convenient features provide a method to create a path that follows a lake front, shoreline, river bed, etc.
The water containment system is constructed by connecting the support structures, along with the membrane support plates, together to form a lengthwise continuous length so that the membrane support plates form a long continuous supporting wall. A water membrane, i.e. a flexible liquid-impervious membrane, is placed over the water membrane plates extending down to the ground and over the entire front surface of the temporary dam. The water membrane stops the water, and the membrane support plate is held in place by the support structures. The weight of the water on the membrane naturally provides a sealing effect. Thus, the body of water will be readily contained.
This application incorporates by reference the entirety of Canadian Application No. CA 2628067, filed on Apr. 2, 2008.
An end support frame comprising a horizontal member 301A, a back support member 301B, and a plate support member 301C are joined together to create the entire end support. The back support member connects to the plate support member substantially at the middle of the plate support member. The supports are joined by welding, bolts, machining, clips, mechanical fasteners, and the like. Alternately, the end support frame is manufactured or machined out of one piece. The end support frame is made from materials such as metal or reinforced plastics, such as fiberglass. In one embodiment, the end support frame is made from a material that is corrosion resistant, such as a galvanized steel or aluminum. In another embodiment, it is made primarily from aluminum or steel tube. In another embodiment, it is coated with a corrosion resistant material, such as paint.
A middle support frame comprising a middle horizontal member 304 a vertical member 303 and a bottom horizontal member 302 are joined together to create the entire middle support frame. Similar to the end support frame, the middle support frame is made from materials such as metal or reinforced plastics, such as fiberglass. In one embodiment, the middle support frame is made from a material that is corrosion resistant, such as a galvanized steel or aluminum. In another embodiment, it is made primarily from aluminum or steel tube. In another embodiment, it is coated with a corrosion resistant material, such as paint.
The middle support frame is connected to an end support frame by mechanical clips 309C,D,E,F on each side, as will be illustrated later. The clips are tabs with bolt holes that allow mechanical fasteners, such as bolts, nuts, or screws, to be used which connect the end support frame to the middle support frame and then another end support frame together as illustrated in
Use of a top support frame, as conceived in the present invention is one embodiment, and not a requirement. Depending upon the supporting structure rigidity and design, the need for the additional top support is dependent upon the overall requirements. Similar to the middle support frame, the top support frame is connected to an end support frame by the mechanical clips 309A,B on each side. The clips are tabs with bolt holes that allow mechanical fasteners, such as bolts, nuts, or screws, to be used which connect the end support frame to the top support frame and then another end support frame together as illustrated in
Holes 310 on the end support frame are used for a stabilization plate that will be illustrated later. A membrane supporting plate 306 faces the body of water. If a sufficiently rigid membrane supporting plate 306 is used, a top support frame is not required. The spacing of the holes 310 between end support frames is a predetermined design criterion based on the height of water to be contained, materials used for the various components, and overall optimization for weight.
Along with the bracing plate 311, a bracing connecting plate 314 with slotted turning holes 316 and turning connecting holes 315 are used to attach the bracing connecting plate to an end support frame.
For the sake of simplicity in erection, it is achievable to design the bracing plate, end support, middle support, top support, and the membrane support plate so that each one is 100 lbs or less. With attention to design parameters, and by making the support spacing more frequent, it is also attainable to design each plate/support so each one is 50 lbs or less in weight. These weights are generally recognized as reasonable values for two healthy individuals or a single healthy individual to lift and carry. Thus every component of the water containment system is transportable by two individuals or a single individual.
Similarly to the fixed design already discussed, the end support frame members are each machined or manufactured out of one piece. The end support frame is made from materials such as metal or reinforced plastics, such as fiberglass. In one embodiment, the end support frame is made from a material that is corrosion resistant, such as galvanized steel or aluminum. In another embodiment, it is made primarily from aluminum or steel tube. In another embodiment, it is coated with a corrosion resistant material, such as paint.
In one featured embodiment, the membrane turning plates 318A,B turn the membrane plate wall angles 45 degrees. In other embodiments, other angles are used.
The system is capable of being erected in deep flowing water and can withstand substantial wave action. Also, as a result of its low angle design, the system will perform well in icy conditions by breaking up the ice on its sloping face, thus acting like an inverted ice-breaker. In addition to its capability of dealing with significant ice flow, the system will deflect floating debris.
An extended seepage path results in a very low flow rate under the dam and can be easily managed by a sump pump. Overtopping will not result in a breach of the structure.
The dam is readily disassembled by disconnecting the dam sections, and the system is generally connected together by mechanical fasteners such as bolts and nuts. It is also connectable by convenience fasteners, such as pins with enhanced hardware features that readily ensure their retention inside a hole.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described, the invention may be modified and adapted to various operational methods to those skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is not limited to the description and figures shown herein, and includes all such embodiments, changes, and modifications that are encompassed by the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A temporary dam system for containing water comprising:
- A) a plurality of connected dam sections, each said dam section comprising: a) an end support, a middle support, and a top support, b) wherein said end support comprises a horizontal member, a back support member and a plate support member, c) wherein said back support member connects to said plate support member substantially in the middle of said plate support member, wherein said horizontal member connects between said plate support member and said back support member, d) wherein said middle support comprises a middle horizontal member, a vertical member, and a bottom horizontal member, e) wherein said vertical member connects between said middle horizontal member and said bottom horizontal member, f) wherein said middle support is connected to said end support, g) wherein said top support is connected to said end support and is located above said middle support, h) a bracing plate, wherein said bracing plate is attached to said end support at one end so that the free end is oriented in the direction of said middle support, i) wherein said end support, said middle support, said top support, and said bracing plate when connected together create a support assembly, j) a membrane support plate, and k) wherein said membrane support plate is connected to said support assembly, and,
- B) a flexible membrane is substantially placed over said membrane support plates of said connected dam sections and extending onto a ground surface below said connected dam sections on the water side of said connected dam sections.
2. The temporary dam system according to claim 1 wherein are used to change the angular direction of said temporary dam system when said dam sections are assembled together.
- a) a turning plate,
- b) a plurality of turning connecting plates, and
- c) a plurality of bracing connecting plates
3. The temporary dam system according to claim 1 wherein said end support, said middle support, and said top support are made primarily from metal, reinforced plastics, or fiberglass.
4. The temporary dam system according to claim 1 wherein said end support, said middle support, and said top support are coated with a corrosion resistant material.
5. The temporary dam section according to claim 1 wherein said plate support member is oriented substantially 45 degrees when said temporary dam system is initially assembled.
6. The temporary dam section according to claim 1 wherein said bracing plate, said end support, said middle support, said top support, and the said membrane support plate are each up to 100 lbs in weight.
7. The temporary dam section according to claim 1 wherein said bracing plate, said end support, said middle support, said top support, and the said membrane support plate are each up to 50 lbs in weight.
8. A temporary dam system for containing water comprising:
- A) a plurality of connected dam sections, each dam section comprising: a) an end support and a middle support, b) wherein said end support comprises a horizontal member, a back support member and a plate support member, c) wherein said back support member connects to said plate support member substantially in the middle of said plate support member, wherein said horizontal member connects between said plate support member and said back support member, d) wherein said middle support comprises a middle horizontal member, a vertical member, and a bottom horizontal member, e) wherein said vertical member connects between said middle horizontal member and said bottom horizontal member, f) wherein said middle support is connected to said end support, g) a bracing plate, wherein said bracing plate is attached to said end support at one end so that the free end is oriented in the direction of said middle support, h) wherein said end support, said middle support, and said bracing plate when connected together create a support assembly, i) a membrane support plate, and j) wherein said membrane support plate is connected to said support assembly, and,
- B) a flexible membrane is substantially placed over said membrane support plates of said connected dam sections and extending onto a ground surface below said connected dam sections on the water side of said connected dam sections.
9. The temporary dam system according to claim 8 wherein are used to change the angular direction of said temporary dam system when said dam sections are assembled together.
- a) a turning plate,
- b) a plurality of turning connecting plates, and
- c) a plurality of bracing connecting plates
10. The temporary dam system according to claim 8 wherein said end support, said middle support, and said top support are made primarily from metal, reinforced plastics, or fiberglass.
11. The temporary dam section according to claim 8 wherein said bracing plate, said end support, said middle support, and the said membrane support plate are each up to 100 lbs in weight.
12. The temporary dam section according to claim 11 wherein said bracing plate, said end support, said middle support, and the said membrane support plate are each up to 50 lbs in weight.
13. The temporary dam section according to claim 8 wherein said plate support member is oriented substantially 45 degrees when said temporary dam system is initially assembled.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 8, 2011
Publication Date: Sep 13, 2012
Inventors: Lyle R. Rowland (Calgary), Brian Hallick (Medicine Hat)
Application Number: 13/042,741
International Classification: E02B 7/08 (20060101); E02B 7/20 (20060101); E02B 7/02 (20060101);