Bonded Concrete Walkway
A bonded concrete walkway segment includes a walkway body formed of a concrete material, a duct extending through the walkway body from a first end of the walkway body to an opposite second end of the walkway body, a tendon including a strand extending through the duct, and a tendon grout filled within the duct around the strand. The tendon grout is cured to fix the strand in the duct.
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The present invention relates to a concrete retaining structure and, more particularly, to a concrete walkway of a concrete retaining structure.
BACKGROUNDPrestressed steel strands are often used to impart compressive stresses to concrete members in concrete construction, improving the performance of the concrete components under tension. Concrete retaining structures, such as retention tanks for water or wastewater applications, have concrete walkways that are formed of prestressed concrete members. The walkways allow a user to traverse the concrete retaining structure for inspection or other purposes.
The prestressed concrete members that form the concrete walkways have a plurality of wire strands disposed within the concrete member. The wire strands are surrounded by a sheathing and a grease coating that separate the wire strands from the concrete member. The wire strands are secured at anchors disposed within the concrete member after tensioning of the strands, but the anchors at opposite ends of the strands are the only bonding securing the stressed strands to the concrete member. The tensioned strands improve the tensile performance of the concrete members, but the limited bonding between the strands and the concrete members leads to decreased longevity and structural stability of the concrete walkway.
SUMMARYA bonded concrete walkway segment includes a walkway body formed of a concrete material, a duct extending through the walkway body from a first end of the walkway body to an opposite second end of the walkway body, a tendon including a strand extending through the duct, and a tendon grout filled within the duct around the strand. The tendon grout is cured to fix the strand in the duct.
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying figures, of which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. In addition, in the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, it is apparent that one or more embodiments may also be implemented without these specific details.
Throughout the specification, directional descriptors are used such as “longitudinal”, “width”, and “vertical”. These descriptors are merely for clarity of the description and for differentiation of the various directions. These directional descriptors do not imply or require any particular orientation of the disclosed elements.
Throughout the drawings, only one of a plurality of identical elements may be labeled in a figure for clarity of the drawings, but the detailed description of the element herein applies equally to each of the identically appearing elements in the figure.
A bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 according to an embodiment, as shown in
In the following, one of the bonded concrete walkway segments 100 will first be described in detail, following by a description of the assembly of the bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 including the various joints 200.
One of the bonded concrete walkway segments 100 is shown in detail in
The walkway body 110 is formed of a concrete material and extends from a first end 112 to a second end 114 opposite the first end 112 in a longitudinal direction L or a width direction W perpendicular to the longitudinal direction L, as shown in
The duct 130, as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
With either embodiment of the duct 130 disposed in the walkway body 110, the tendon 140 is positioned in the duct passageway 133. As shown in
As shown in
The strands 144, shown in
As shown in
A process 300 of creating one of the bonded walkway segments 100 will now be described in greater detail primarily with reference to
A grout valve assembly 160, shown in
In a step 310, the walkway body 110 is cast of the concrete material around the duct 130, the anchors 142, and the grout valve assembly 160. The concrete material of the walkway body 110 may be precast; formed and cured off site prior to the remainder of the steps of the process 300 described below that take place on site.
As shown in
In a step 320 shown in
The strands 144 are tensioned into the tensioned state T in the duct passageway 133 in a step 330. The strands 144 may be tensioned by any devices and methods used for stressing reinforcing strands in concrete applications. The anchors 142 secure the strands 144 in the tensioned state T, in which the strands 144 apply a compressive force onto the walkway body 110. The access opening 116 shown in
In a step 340 shown in
The tendon grout 150 is cured in a step 350 shown in
After the tendon grout 150 is cured, in a step 360 shown in
The bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 including a plurality of the bonded concrete walkway segments 100 described in detail above is shown in
In the extension joint 260 shown in
In the embodiment of
As shown in
As shown in
The extension joint 260, as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiments shown in
In the first intersection 270 shown in
The second intersection 280 shown in
A process 400 of creating the joints 200 of the bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 that connect the bonded concrete walkway segments 100 will now be described in greater detail primarily with reference to
In a step 410, the bonded concrete walkway segments 100 are positioned in the desired configuration of the bonded concrete walkway assembly 10. An exemplary configuration of the bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 is shown in
At each of the joints 200, in a step 420 shown in
The elastomeric sealant 230 shown in
Following the installation of the duct connection 220 and the positioning of the elastomeric sealant 230, the reinforcement assembly 204 is positioned in the first gap 240 in a step 440 and the second ends 114 or sides 119 are roughened to form the roughened surfaces 202 facing the first gap 240 in a step 450. In other embodiments, the steps 420, 430, 440, and 450 can be performed in a different order.
The intermediate concrete 210 is filled in the first gap 240 and the second gap 250 in an uncured state in a step 460 shown in
In the step 490 shown in
The bonded concrete walkway assembly 10 formed from the plurality of bonded concrete walkway segments 100 has improved longevity and structural stability. The bonding of the strands 144 in the tensioned state T to the walkway bodies 110 via the tendon grout 150 provides structural redundancy and a more durable connection between the stressed strands 144 and the walkway bodies 110. The arrangement of the elements in the joints 200 further improves the reliability of the connections between the bonded concrete walkway segments 100.
Claims
1. A bonded concrete walkway segment, comprising:
- a walkway body formed of a concrete material;
- a duct extending through the walkway body from a first end of the walkway body to an opposite second end of the walkway body;
- a tendon including a strand extending through the duct; and
- a tendon grout filled within the duct around the strand, the tendon grout is cured to fix the strand in the duct.
2. The bonded concrete walkway segment of claim 1, wherein the duct has a corrugated shape.
3. The bonded concrete walkway segment of claim 1, wherein the strand is in a tensioned state with the tendon grout cured.
4. The bonded concrete walkway segment of claim 3, wherein the tendon includes an anchor disposed within the walkway body and attached to the strand, the anchor holds the strand in the tensioned state.
5. The bonded concrete walkway segment of claim 1, wherein the strand is one of a plurality of strands of the tendon that extend through the duct.
6. The bonded concrete walkway segment of claim 1, further comprising a grout valve assembly extending through an outer surface of the walkway body and communicating with the duct, the tendon grout is fed into the duct through the grout valve assembly.
7. A bonded concrete walkway assembly, comprising:
- a plurality of bonded concrete walkway segments each having a walkway body formed of a concrete material, a duct extending through the walkway body from a first end of the walkway body to an opposite second end of the walkway body, a tendon including a strand extending through the duct, and a tendon grout filled within the duct around the strand, the tendon grout is cured to fix the strand in the duct.
8. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 7, wherein one of the bonded concrete walkway segments is connected to another of the bonded concrete walkway segments at a joint, the joint includes an intermediate concrete filled and cured between the walkway bodies of the bonded concrete walkway segments.
9. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 8, wherein the duct of the one of the bonded concrete walkway segments is connected to the duct of the another of the concrete walkway segments by a duct connection.
10. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 9, wherein the joint includes a reinforcement assembly disposed between the walkway bodies, the duct connection and the reinforcement assembly are disposed within the intermediate concrete.
11. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 7, wherein the intermediate concrete has a coating on an outer surface.
12. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 8, wherein the second end or a side of each of the walkway bodies faces the joint, the walkway body of at least one of the bonded concrete walkway segments has a protrusion extending from a portion of the second end.
13. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 12, wherein the joint has a first gap between the second ends or sides of the walkway bodies and a second gap at the protrusion of the at least one bonded concrete walkway segment, the second gap is less than half a width of the first gap, the intermediate concrete is filled in the first gap and the second gap.
14. The bonded concrete walkway assembly of claim 13, wherein the joint has an elastomeric sealant disposed in the second gap.
15. A method of assembling a concrete walkway, comprising:
- casting a walkway body of a concrete material around a duct, the duct extends through the walkway body from a first end of the walkway body to an opposite second end of the walkway body;
- extending a strand of a tendon through the duct;
- tensioning the strand in the duct to a tensioned state;
- filling the duct with a tendon grout while the strand is in the tensioned state; and
- curing the tendon grout with the strand in the tensioned state to fix the strand in the duct, forming a bonded concrete walkway segment.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein, in the casting step, a grout valve assembly is cast in the walkway body to extend through an outer surface of the walkway body, the grout valve assembly communicates with the duct.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the tendon grout is filled in the duct through the grout valve assembly.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, after the tendon grout is cured, cutting the grout valve assembly at the outer surface of the walkway body and filling a recess of the outer surface with a body grout.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein the bonded concrete walkway segment is one of a plurality of bonded concrete walkway segments, and further comprising connecting the bonded concrete walkway segments at a joint that includes an intermediate concrete filled and cured between the walkway bodies of the bonded concrete walkway segments.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein, before the intermediate concrete is filled and cured in the joint, the ducts of the bonded concrete walkway segments are connected in the joint by a duct connection.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 18, 2022
Publication Date: Apr 18, 2024
Applicant: Dutchland, Inc. (Gap, PA)
Inventors: Joshua C. Allen (Lititz, PA), Kenneth W. Sullivan (Gap, PA)
Application Number: 17/968,278