Cast stone, earthen retaining wall system incorporating geogrid, textile or fabric as the soil reinforcement.

Abstract

A retaining wall module (1) comprises a wall panel member (2) having a front and a rear with a geogrid, mesh, textile or fabric member (4) mechanically connected to the panel member (2) by embedding in the said wall panel member (2) during casting. In one embodiment the connector (7) comprises any connectable type clip used as a temporary holding device. The permanent attachment to the soil being the geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile (4) which is embedded in the said wall panel member (2) and attached to the embedded reinforcement (5) that is an integral part of the cast stone face member.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of PPA APPLICATION # 60/939,740 filed 2007 May 23 by the present inventors, which is incorporated by reference.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

This invention pertains to soil engineering and retaining walls and more specifically to modular precast concrete retention systems.

2. Prior Art

Many retaining wall systems incorporate the use of precast stone face retaining wall systems with counterforts or tie backs combined with geogrid, or geomesh creating a total system of retention. Until now no one has incorporated the two components, face stone and geogrid, mesh fabric or textile into one complete item with the embedment of the geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile all into one integral cast piece.

The cast stone in U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,818 to Manthci, 2003 May 6, is a very heavy stone in relation to the amount of wall face covered. Heavy equipment as a result is needed for placing it. If geogrid is used in this retention system it is sandwiched between blocks as a connection method.

In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,316 to Ash 2000 Sep. 5 a counterfort is used as the main hold back of the face stone. This system lacks the ability to tie a geogrid or mesh to their modules therefore limiting its ability to be used in higher walls.

The method and apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,939 to Hilfiker 1989, Aug. 15 uses a geogrid tied to wire trays but is limited in it's appearance after installation with long term maintenance a draw back since weeds would grow out the front of the mesh.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,227 to Wilson, et al. 1988 Mar. 1 describes a system requiring a woven rod means inserted “within a channel formed by an interfingering of said first and second intervening webs” making the installation of such a system much more complicated than necessary. The geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile being of a flexible nature eliminates the need for it to be attached after casting since it can be coiled, contributing to the more convenient means of stacking the stone for shipping.

Designed to be a vertical retaining system U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,646 Issued date: Apr. 7, 1987 to John W. Babcock, Ronald K. Wormus lacks flexibility and the implementation of new innovations such as geo fabrics to strengthen and extent it's capabilities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the one embodiment there is provided a retaining wall module comprising a wall panel member having a front and a rear and embedded during casting is a geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile. Said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile extends out at its rear side and is a means whereby the said retaining wall module reinforces the retained fill. During installation said retaining wall module is held temporarily in place by tiebacks or counter weights.

DRAWINGS

Figures

FIG. 1 is a rear isometric view, from within a soil mass, of an assembled precast concrete module (1) of the present embodiment, comprising a face stone panel (2) with the geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile (4) protruding out of the rear of the face stone (2) Said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile is embedded in the compacted retention soils during installation. Said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile (4) in this embodiment is attached to the welded wire mesh (5) by weaving a wire rod (6) through said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile at the opposite side of the welded wire mesh. A metal clip (7) in this embodiment is embedded in said face stone panel (2) to accommodate a tie back (3) that is staked to the compacted ground through the stake hole (8) as a means to securing it's position during install.

FIG. 2 is a front isometric view, from within a soil mass, of an assembled precast concrete module (1) of the present invention, comprising a face stone panel (2) and with the geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile (4) protruding out of the rear of said face stone panel (2) and embedded in the compacted retention soils.

FIG. 3 is a rear isometric view showing said face stone panel (2) in solid form demonstrating the finished product.

FIG. 4 is a front isometric view with the said face stone panel (2) removed to show the connection in this embodiment of the said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile (4) and said welded wire mesh (5).

FIG. 5 is a front isometric view enlarged to show more detail.

FIG. 6 is a rear isometric view showing said face stone panel (2) in solid form demonstrating the finished product assembled in a four-tier wall system of one embodiment.

DRAWINGS

Reference Numerals

• • 1. retaining wall module
  • 2. face stone
  • 3. temporary holding rod
  • 4. geogrid mesh, fabric, or textile.
  • 5. welded wire reinforcement
  • 6. wire to attach geogrid to wire mesh
  • 7. clips to connect the temporary holding rod.
  • 8. Hole in rod for stake

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-6 Preferred Embodiment

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present soil reinforcing structure as shown and will be seen to include one or more facing members such as wall panels 2 and one or more soil reinforcing or anchoring grids 4 extending horizontally from the rear surface of each wall panel 10 into compacted earth or soil (not shown), behind the wall. The wall panels generally speaking require foundations for support, however these are often small leveling pads, with compacted road base.

The wall panels themselves may be of a variety of constructions but the form shown in the appended drawings is a face stone 2 with some stone like feature on the front side. These wall panels 2 are precast reinforced concrete structures and can be made in a number of sizes. At 32″×16″×2.25″ their weight is 80-85 lbs and easily hand moved.

The front face 2 of each panel may be decoratively finished as desired, whereas the rear surface can be of no definite design.

Anchoring grids 4 consist preferably of strong, flexible pre-stressed synthetic geogrid, although other types of flexible materials, including flexible wire mesh, may be used. A suitable geogrid is manufactured by the Tensar Corporation of Atlanta, Ga. and sold commercially under the trademark TENSAR. TENSAR geogrids are a high tensile strength, chemically inert, polymer grid developed specifically for long-term (120 years) soil reinforcement applications. Another suitable geogrid is manufactured by STRATA SYSTEMS.

STRATA SYSTEMS are a manufacturer and worldwide distributor of a diversified group of soil reinforcement products including Stratagrid, Microgrid, and Stratadrain. The drawings in this patent are drawn to resemble STRATA SYSTEMS SG500 product but other brands and types would suffice. The grids are quite flexible and may be rolled or flexed or conformably shaped to the ground as required.

With reference to FIG. 5, the wall panels and anchoring grids are shown in greater detail. The wall panels, or one of them at a time, are erected on leveling pads and are held in an upright position by means of temporary braces 3, the majority of which are typically arranged along the rear of the panels to shore them up as fill is added behind the walls. Starting at the bottom of the rear surface of each panel, an anchoring grid 4 is buried to a level just below the second grid 4. The geogrid or mest at the central point of the stone is stretched out on top of the compact soil and staked in place. Then the next level of fill is placed and compacted to the top of the face stone 2 at which point the process is repeated

The number of layers of vertically spaced grids formed in this fashion will vary depending upon job requirements and design specifications, but the arrangement shown in FIG. 6 includes four layers stacked but with extra geogrid the height of the wall is only limited by the engineering of the soils.

Under load conditions, the geostatic and hydrostatic forces acting against the wall will of course result in tensile forces in the anchoring grids, and these forces will be spread evenly along the length of the grid, rather than being localized at a relatively few points of connection between the wall and the grid as is the case in many of the prior systems.

Prior to embedding geogrids 4 in the backfill, each grid is tensioned to remove folds or kinks and to maximize frictional gradients between the soil and the grids. Stakes are used for this purpose.

It will be appreciated from the above that a new and improved system has been described for interconnecting facing elements with mesh-type anchoring grids offering improved performance in terms of simplicity of construction, decreased assembly time, and the economic advantages of connecting the geogrid during casting.

The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and other modifications may be possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include other alternative embodiments of the invention, except insofar as limited by the prior art.

Claims

1. A retaining wall module, comprising:

(a) a wall panel member made of cast stone having a base, a front and a rear and

(b) embedded in said wall panel member is one or more geo mesh, fabric or textile, that protrudes out the rear of said wall panel member and

(c) is a means to reinforce the retained earth and maintain the position of said wall panel member and whereby said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile being of a flexible nature after casting can be coiled and made compact for shipping.

2. The retaining wall module according to claim 1, wherein said wall panel member is cast stone of any predetermined cross-sectional shape with one or more reinforcement elements.

3. The retaining wall module according to claim 1, wherein said wall panel member is of precast stone and said geogrid, mesh, fabric or textile is embedded into said wall panel member during casting.

4. A modular retaining wall system comprising a plurality of said module according to claim 1, arranged in a row along the ground with said wall panel members in abutting relationship with one another.

5. The modular retaining wall system according to claim 4, comprising a plurality of said rows arranged in tiers to create a multi level system.