ANCHORAGE ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

The invention relates to an anchorage arrangement (100) for anchoring a cable including a plurality of wires and/or strands (104) to a building structure, said anchorage arrangement (100) comprising an anchorage unit (102) for fixing free ends of said wires and/or strands (104) and comprising an anchorage spacer unit (108) including a plurality of through-holes for passing said wires and/or strands (104) therethrough in a widened configuration, and a compacting clamp unit (124) for compacting the wires and/or strands (104) in a side-by-side configuration and being located at a predetermined distance from said anchorage unit (102). According to the invention, the anchorage arrangement (100) further comprises a further spacer unit (130) located between said anchorage spacer unit (102) and said compacting clamp unit (124), said further spacer unit (130) including a plurality of through-holes (130a) for passing said wires and/or strands (104) therethrough in a further widened configuration.

Description

The invention relates to an anchorage arrangement for anchoring a cable including a plurality of wires and/or strands to a building structure, said cable, said wires and/or strands and said building structure not being part of the anchorage arrangement, said anchorage arrangement comprising an anchorage unit adapted and intended for being fixed to said building structure, adapted and intended for fixing free ends of said wires and/or strands and comprising an anchorage spacer unit, said anchorage spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a widened configuration, and said anchorage arrangement further comprising a compacting clamp unit adapted and intended for compacting the wires and/or strands in a side-by-side configuration and being located at a predetermined distance from said anchorage unit.

Such anchorage arrangements have been successfully marketed by the applicant for many years under the tradename Dyna Grip®.

Within the anchorage unit, the free ends of the wires and/or strands run essentially parallel to each other, being spaced apart from each other in accordance with the widened configuration of the anchorage spacer unit by a distance which is large enough to allow them to be held in a wedge plate by means of wedge elements. At the outlet of the anchorage spacer unit, the wires and/or strands are deflected so that they gradually approach each other outside the anchorage unit until they are arranged in the compacting clamp unit in the side-by-side configuration.

This kind of arrangement assumes that the anchorage unit, which is located inside the building structure, is almost perfectly aligned with the tangent of the catenary of the cable at the entrance to the anchorage unit. Deviations from this perfect alignment must not exceed an angle in the order of 2°.

In practice, however, even with newly erected building structures, it is not uncommon for the alignment of the anchorage unit not to meet these requirements. In this case, there is a too large deflection at the outlet of the anchorage spacer unit, which in turn leads to too much stress on the wires and/or strands, which limits their service time.

In addition, the development of cables has made great progress in recent years, so that if an old, heavy cable is replaced by a modern cable, this modern cable will follow a different catenary than the old cable due to its lower weight, which in turn results in an excessive deviation between the tangent of the catenary of the new cable and the alignment of the anchorage unit.

During construction and service stage of the bridge, also large angular rotations due to deflections of the structure, rotation of the structure at the anchorage points of the cable, change of cable sag due to change in cable force, static and dynamic wind loads on the cable occur. Especially at long span bridges such angular rotations can reach values of more than 1° which need to be added to the structural tolerances of the alignment of the bridge and which are variable in direction.

Finally, in the case of cable stayed bridges, such excessive deviations can also result from the desire to raise the bridge deck at the same time of replacing the cables, for example to increase the clearance height for ships.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an anchorage arrangement which fulfills the above-mentioned requirements without resulting in excessive stress on the wires and/or strands.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by an anchorage arrangement of the afore-mentioned type which further comprises a further spacer unit located between said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit, said further spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a further spacer unit widened configuration.

The inventors have recognized that in all the cases described above the necessary deflection of the wires and/or strands is composed of two components, namely on the one hand the unavoidable radial-symmetric deflection for transferring the wires and/or strands from the widened configuration required for anchoring to the side-by-side configuration required for the main length of the cable, and on the other hand a deflection resulting purely from the specific constellations of the afore-described static and dynamic deflection causes. The inventors have also recognized that it is possible to have these two components received by the wires and/or strands at length sections spatially separated from each other in the longitudinal direction of the cable. According to the invention, this spatial separation is achieved by providing a further spacer unit in addition to the anchorage spacer unit. While the further spacer unit mainly merges/widens the wires and/or strands between the widened configuration and the side-by-side configuration, the deflections resulting from the above-described causes are mainly taken over by the anchorage spacer unit, which in this case therefore fulfills the function of a deviator unit.

In existing building structures, the anchorage unit may be located relatively deep in the building structure. So there is a risk that the wires and/or strands will, on their way out of the building structure, come into contact with the side walls of the channel leading from the anchorage unit to the outlet of the building structure.

Such a contact would also be detrimental to the service time of the cables. It is therefore proposed that the anchorage arrangement further comprises a guide spacer unit located between said anchorage spacer unit and said further spacer unit, said guide spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a guide spacer unit widened configuration. In this case, the guide spacer unit assumes the function of the deviator unit, while the anchorage spacer unit only has the function of maintaining the widened configuration. Between the anchorage spacer unit and the guide spacer unit, the wires and/or strands therefore preferably run substantially parallel to the channel leading from the anchorage unit to the outlet of the building structure, so that there is no risk of contact with the channel wall. From the outlet of the building structure, the deflection resulting from the case constellations described above are then taken over by the guide spacer unit, while the further spacer unit, also in this case, is responsible mainly for the merging/widening of the wires and/or strands.

It should be noted that the word “between” in “the further spacer unit is located between said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit” is to be understood as referring to the fact that the further spacer unit has a predetermined non-zero distance from both said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit. In other words, the only physical contact of the further spacer unit to both the anchorage spacer unit (or the guide spacer unit) and the compacting clamp unit is made by free length sections of the wires and/or strands running between the further spacer unit, on the one side, and the anchorage spacer unit (or the guide spacer unit) and the compacting clamp unit, respectively, on the other side.

It should also be pointed out that the solution according to the invention can be retrofitted in a simple and cost-effective manner, since only one or two additional spacer units need to be provided in each anchorage arrangement.

In a further development of the invention, it is proposed that the anchorage arrangement further comprises an exit pipe adapted and intended for surrounding the wires and/or strands and adapted and intended for being fastened to an outer surface of the building structure, said further spacer unit being located inside said exit pipe or adjacent a free end of said exit pipe outside said exit pipe and/or that the guide spacer unit is located at a further predetermined distance from the free end of said exit pipe, the further predetermined distance amounting to between about 0.3 m and about 1.0 m.

Advantageously, the further spacer unit can be a floating spacer unit, i.e. a spacer unit having contact neither to the anchorage nor to the exit pipe thereof. In this way it is ensured that the further spacer unit focuses on the radial-symmetric deflection transferring the wires and/or strands from the widened configuration required for anchoring to the side-by-side configuration required for the main length of the cable. As it is true for the compacting clamp unit, also the floating further spacer unit can be held in place merely by the frictional forces acting between the wires and/or strands on the one side and the further spacer unit on the other side, and this is true even taking weather-related dynamic forces into account.

In order that the deflection of the wires and/or strands can take place as gently as possible, it is proposed that at least a portion of the inner wall of the through-holes of at least one of the spacer units, i.e. anchorage spacer unit and/or further spacer unit and/or guide spacer unit, is arcuate. The arcuate shape can have a predetermined curvature, wherein a radius of the predetermined curvature can, for example, amount to at least 2 m, preferably at least 4 m, even more preferably to at least 4.3 m. However, also other shapes of the arcuate inner wall of the through-holes are conceivable, e.g. a clothoid-shape.

Depending on the function of the respective spacer unit, the arcuate portions can be designed and/or oriented differently. For example, the through-holes of the anchorage spacer unit can be funnel-shaped widening away from the anchorage unit. Furthermore, the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes of the further spacer unit can be directed towards a central axis of the further spacer unit. Analogously, the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes of the guide spacer unit may be directed all in the same direction.

Preferably, the widened configuration of the anchorage spacer unit, the further spacer unit widened configuration and the guide spacer unit widened configuration, with exception of the design of the arcuate wall portions, can be identical.

Preferably, at least one of the anchorage spacer unit, the further spacer unit and the guide spacer unit may be made from polyethylene, e.g. HDPE.

Furthermore, at least one of the anchorage spacer unit, the further spacer unit and the guide spacer unit can comprise a plurality of, e.g. disk-shaped, spacer sub-units each including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough, at least one of the plurality of spacer sub-units being made from a material selected from HDPE, plastic foam, rubber, steel and high strength grout. In this way, predetermined properties going beyond the mere deflection can be attributed to the spacer unit(s), e.g. sealing properties.

Generalizing the afore-discussed concept of distributing the overall deflection of the wires and/or strands to different length sections spatially separated from each other in the longitudinal direction of the cable, it is further proposed that the anchorage arrangement can comprise a plurality of further spacer units, all being located between said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit, said further spacer units including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a further widened configuration. Accordingly, the overall deflection of the wires and/or strands may be distributed to a plurality of length sections. The further spacer units can be successively arranged between the anchorage spacer unit and the compacting clamp unit, such that the wires and/or strands are gradually deflected by each of the further spacer units along the longitudinal direction of the cable, the absolute deflection at each of the further spacer units increasing from said anchorage spacer unit to said compacting clamp unit.

Each of the further spacer units can be either a floating spacer unit or a semi-floating spacer unit. In the context of the present invention the term “semi-floating spacer unit” refers to a spacer unit which initially, i.e. at the beginning of an increasing deflection of the wires and/or strands, is floating, i.e. not in contact with the anchor tube, the exit pipe, or any other component of the anchorage arrangement, but abuts with its outer circumferential surface against the anchor tube, the exit pipe, or the other component of the anchorage arrangement, such that it is no longer floating, as soon as a maximum deflection angle for which the respective semi-floating spacer unit is designed is reached. For example, the maximum deflection angle per semi-floating spacer unit may amount to about 1.5°.

In order to allow a plurality of further spacer units, in particular a plurality of semi-floating spacer units, to successively abut against the anchor tube, the exit pipe, or any other component of the anchorage arrangement, at least one of the further spacer units, preferably each of the further spacer units, may have an outer diameter which is different from the outer diameter of the at least one adjacent further spacer unit. Advantageously, the outer diameters of the further spacer units may, preferably continuously, decrease from the anchorage spacer unit towards the compacting clamp unit.

Consider a hypothetical situation in which the wires and/or strands at the beginning are not deflected, but then are increasingly deflected in a specific radial direction with respect to the axis of the anchorage unit. In this situation the further spacer units are all floating in the undeflected state at the beginning. Then the wires and/or strands are deflected, until a first further spacer unit, which is located closest to the anchorage spacer unit and has the largest outer diameter, abuts against the anchor tube, the exit pipe, or any other component of the anchorage arrangement, while the other further spacer units are still floating. Due to the abutment of the first further spacer unit, any further deflection of the wires and/or strands will not have any effect on the length section of the wires and/or strands extending between the anchorage spacer unit and the first further spacer unit. Therefore, the further deflection of the wires and/or strands will now move the second further spacer unit, which is located second-closest to the anchorage spacer unit and has the second-largest outer diameter, radially outward towards, until it abuts against the anchor tube, the exit pipe, or any other component of the anchorage arrangement, and so on with the third, fourth, fifth, . . . further spacer units, if present.

The decrease in outer diameter from further spacer unit to further spacer unit may depend on a maximum deviation angle received by each respective further spacer unit and/or the distance between two adjacent further spacer units.

Summarizing, by adjusting the outer diameters of each of the semi-floating spacer units based on the outer diameter of at least one neighboring further spacer unit, the wires and/or strands can be gradually deflected such that desired deviation angles between two neighboring further spacer units can be achieved. The outer diameters of the further spacer units may be adjusted such that a maximum deviation angle of the wires and/or strands between a first further spacer unit and a neighboring second further spacer unit is not exceeded. For example, the maximum deviation angle may, as already mentioned, amount to about 1.5°.

For example, the through-hole pattern of each further spacer unit may be identical. In other words, the through-holes of each further spacer unit of the plurality of further spacer units are identical with respect to size and shape, and in particular with respect to the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes as described above. Thus, the radial-symmetric deflection of the wires and/or strands is the same for all further spacer units having an identical arrangement of through-holes. As a consequence, the wires and/or strands extend substantially parallel to each other between two neighboring further spacer units, maintaining the widened configuration.

Alternatively, the through-hole patterns of at least two further spacer units differ from each other, in particular with respect to size or shape or the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes. Accordingly, at least one further spacer unit can be used in order to at least partially transfer the wires and/or strands from the widened configuration required at the anchorage unit to the side-by-side configuration required at the compacting clamp unit.

As a result, by providing a plurality of further spacer units, both the radial-symmetric deflection as well as the static and dynamic deflection of the cable can be adjusted by adapting the outer diameters and the arrangements of through-holes of the further spacer units.

It should be noted that the wires and/or strands of the cable may comprise a sheath made e.g. of polyethylene. Said sheath is used to increase frictional forces between the wires and/or strands and the through-holes of the anchorage spacer unit, optionally the guide spacer unit, and/or the one or more further spacer units.

Further, the sheath increases wear resistance and protects the wires and/or strands against humidity and other environmental influences. However, if desired, the portions of the wires and/or strands passing through the through-holes of the anchorage spacer unit, the guide spacer, and/or the one or more further spacer units may be provided without a sheath.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail referring to embodiments shown in the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a bridge deck side anchorage including an anchorage arrangement according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a pylon side anchorage including an anchorage arrangement according to the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a first embodiment of an anchorage arrangement according to the invention having the same basic design as the anchorage arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of an anchorage arrangement according to the invention;

FIGS. 5a and 5b show a sectional view (FIG. 5a) and a front view (FIG. 5b) seen in the direction of arrow P1 in FIG. 5a of an embodiment of the further (floating) spacer unit;

FIGS. 6a and 6b show a sectional view (FIG. 6a) and a front view (FIG. 6b) seen in the direction of arrow P2 in FIG. 6a of an embodiment of the guide spacer unit;

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of an anchorage arrangement known from the prior art;

FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of an anchorage arrangement according to the invention, comprising semi-floating spacer units in a deflected state; and

FIG. 9 shows the embodiment of FIG. 8 in an undeflected state.

In FIG. 1 an anchorage arrangement according to the present invention is generally denoted by reference numeral 100.

The anchorage arrangement 100 includes an anchorage unit 102 fixing a plurality of wires and/or strands 104 to a bridge deck 106.

As may be seen in detail from FIG. 3, the free ends of the wires and/or strands 104 run essentially parallel to each other within the anchorage unit 102, being spaced apart from each other in accordance with the widened configuration of an anchorage spacer unit 108 by a distance which is large enough to allow them to be held in a wedge plate 110 by means of wedge elements 112. The wedge plate 110 abuts against an anchor plate 114 which in turn abuts against the bridge deck 106 (see also FIG. 1). An anchor tube 116 extends from anchor plate 114 into a channel 118 of the bridge deck 106.

With reference again to FIG. 1, an exit pipe 120 is mounted to the bridge deck 106 at the end of the channel 118. Furthermore, a vandalism protection tube 122 is connected to the exit pipe 120. Inside the vandalism protection tube 122 a compaction clamp 124 is provided. Starting from the compaction clamp 124 the wires and/or strands 104 are extending in a side-by-side configuration towards the respective other, substantially identically designed anchorage arrangement 100 located at the bridge pylon 126 (see FIG. 2).

As is shown in FIG. 1, the actual extension E1 of the wires and/or strands 104 in the side-by-side configuration deviates from the axial extension E2 of the anchorage unit 102 and the bridge deck channel 118 by an angle β.

In the following, the problems arising from this deviation will be explained referring to FIG. 7 showing a prior art anchor arrangement 900.

In the prior art anchor arrangement 900, the entire deflection of the wires and/or strands 904, i.e. the deflection caused by the compaction of the wires and/or strands 904 from the widened configuration at the anchorage spacer unit 908 to the side-by-side configuration at the compaction clamp 924, on the one side, and the afore-mentioned deviation (angle γ), on the other side, occurs at the outlet end of the anchorage spacer unit 908. As a result, wire and/or strand 904a has to take a maximum deflection, while wire and/or strand 904b shows an almost undeflected extension. The excessive deflection of wire and/or strand 904a causes too much stress, and thus the risk of limited service time.

It should be noted that the same problem arises when the wires and/or strands are not deflected at the anchorage spacer unit 108, but at a guide spacer unit 128 (see FIGS. 1 and 3). According to the invention, such guide spacer units 128 can be provided at or close to the end of the channel 118, in order to ensure a substantially parallel, in other words undeflected, extension of the wires and/or strands 104 inside the channel.

In order to provide a solution to the afore-described problem, the invention suggests to provide a further spacer unit 130 between the guide spacer unit 128 (or the anchorage spacer unit 108, if there is no need for a guide spacer unit 128 in view of a short enough length of the channel 118) and the compaction clamp 124. The purpose of this further spacer unit 130 is to separate the compacting deflection of the wires and/or strands 104 from the widened configuration at the anchorage spacer unit 108 to the side-by-side configuration at the compaction clamp 124 from the deflection caused by the deviation (angle γ).

In particular, the further spacer unit 130 deals with the compacting deflection, while the deviation deflection is handled by the guide spacer unit 128 (or the anchorage spacer unit 108), as may be best seen from FIG. 3. Consequently, wire and/or strand 104a is considerably less deformed as compared to wire and/or strand 904a of the prior art anchorage arrangement 900. The fact that wire and/or strand 104b shows a higher deformation than wire and/or strand 904b of the prior art anchorage arrangement 900 is acceptable in view of the more uniform deformation distribution among the entirety of the wires and/or strands 104.

In this context, it should be noted that the most uniform deformation distribution can be achieved if the further spacer unit 130 is a floating spacer unit, i.e. a spacer unit which merely contacts the wires and/or strands 104, but is free of contact from any other component of the anchorage arrangement 100, in particular the anchor tube 116. Nevertheless, the floating spacer unit 130 is safely held in place by the frictional forces between itself and the wires and/or strands 104, as this is, as a side remark, true for the compacting clamp unit 124 as well.

FIG. 5a shows a sectional view of the further spacer unit 130, and FIG. 5b shows a front view seen in the direction of arrow P1 in FIG. 5a of the further spacer unit 130.

As can be seen from FIG. 5a, the further spacer unit 130 includes a plurality through-holes 130a extending therethrough, each receiving one of the wires and/or strands 104. At least a portion 130a1 of the inner wall of the through-holes 130a has an arcuate shape allowing to support the wires and/or strands 104 while being deflected and thus ensuring a uniform distribution of the deflection-related forces over a predetermined distance. As the further spacer unit 130 is responsible merely for the compacting deflection, the arcuate inner wall portions 130a1 of the through-holes 130a all are pointing towards a central axis A of the further spacer unit 130.

FIGS. 6a and 6b show analogous views of the guide spacer unit 128.

As can be seen from FIG. 6a, the guide spacer unit 128 includes a plurality through-holes 128a extending therethrough, each receiving one of the wires and/or strands 104. At least a portion 128a1 of the inner wall of the through-holes 130a has an arcuate shape allowing to support the wires and/or strands 104 while being deflected and thus ensuring a uniform distribution of the deflection-related forces over a predetermined distance. As the guide spacer unit 128 is responsible for the deviation deflection the direction of which cannot be predicted, and as the guide spacer unit 128, in particular in view of the floating arrangement of the further spacer unit 130, is responsible for dynamic deflections caused, for example, by wind and rain, the arcuate inner wall portions 128a1 of the through-holes 128a all are designed as funnel-shaped wall portions.

For the sake of completeness, FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment of the anchorage arrangement according to the present invention, namely the afore-mentioned embodiment not including a guide spacer unit. As the embodiment according to FIG. 4 substantially corresponds to the embodiment of FIG. 3, all elements are designated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 3, but increased by 100. Furthermore, the anchorage arrangement 200 of FIG. 4 will be described only insofar as it differs from the anchorage arrangement 100 of FIG. 3, to the description of which it is otherwise explicitly referred to.

As already mentioned, the anchorage arrangement 200 of FIG. 4 differs from the anchorage arrangement 100 of FIG. 3 only by the fact that it fails to include a guide spacer unit. This is possible because the anchor tube 216 is short enough to avoid the risk of an undesired contact of one of the wires and/or strands 204 and/or the floating spacer unit 230 with the anchor tube 216. With respect to the anchor plate 214, the wedge plate 210, the wedge elements 212, the anchorage spacer unit 208 and the compacting clamp unit 224, the design of the anchorage arrangement 200 of FIG. 4 is identical to that of the anchorage arrangement 100 of FIG. 3.

Returning to FIG. 3, the anchorage spacer unit 108 comprises a plurality of, e.g. disk-shaped, spacer sub-units 108a, each including a plurality of through-holes 108b adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands 104 therethrough. Although not shown in the drawings, the further spacer unit 130 and/or the guide spacer unit 128 as well may include a plurality of, e.g. disk-shaped, spacer sub-units.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show a third embodiment of the anchorage arrangement according to the present invention. The third embodiment according to FIGS. 8 and 9 substantially corresponds to the first and second embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. Therefore, all elements are designated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 4 but are increased by 100. Furthermore, the anchorage arrangement 300 of FIGS. 8 and 9 will be described only insofar as it differs from the anchorage arrangements 100 and 200 of FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, to the description of which it is otherwise explicitly referred to.

FIG. 8 shows the third embodiment of the anchorage arrangement 300, which comprises a plurality of further spacer units 330, here a total of three further spacer units 330. Among these three further spacer units 330, the first two further spacer units 330, when viewed from the anchorage spacer unit 308, are semi-floating spacer units. In other words, these further spacer units 330 abut against an additional anchor tube 316a, which is mounted to the anchor tube 316, at one radial end portion of a respective further spacer unit 330. In contrast, the further spacer unit 330 located closer to the compacting clamp unit 324 is a floating spacer unit, as its radial end portion is not in contact with the additional anchor tube 316a.

The additional anchor tube 316a is mounted to the anchor tube 316 to adjust the radial distance between the pipe and the further space units 330 extending along the longitudinal direction of the wires and/or strands 304 of the cable. The length of the additional anchor tube 316a is chosen such that all further spacer units 330, which are intended to be used as semi-floating spacer units, are located inside the additional anchor tube 316a. Alternatively, the semi-floating spacer units can abut against an exit pipe shown in FIG. 1, or the anchor tube 316 can be extended such that the semi-floating spacer units 330 are located inside the anchor tube 316.

Due to the abutment of the first and second further spacer units 330, a deviation deflection of the wires and/or strands 304 is achieved. In detail, the semi-floating spacer units 330 may act similarly to the afore-described guide spacer unit, as the contact between a semi-floating spacer unit 330 and the additional anchor tube 316a causes a physical limitation for the deflection caused by the deviation (angle γ). At each semi-floating spacer unit 330, said deviation cannot increase any further once a respective semi-floating spacer unit 330 abuts against the additional anchor tube 316a.

As shown in FIG. 8, the abutment of the further spacer units 330 is governed by the outer diameter d of each further spacer unit 330. Thus, by adjusting the outer diameter d of a semi-floating spacer unit, the degree of deviation deflection caused by each abutting further spacer unit 330 can be set.

Here, the outer diameters d of the further spacer units 330 gradually decreases along the longitudinal direction of the wires and/or strands 304. The further spacer unit 330 located closest to the anchorage spacer unit 308 has a greater outer diameter d than the remaining further outer spacer units 330, wherein the further spacer unit 330 located closest to the compacting clamp unit 324 has the smallest outer diameter d, resulting in the latter being a floating spacer unit.

The further spacer units 330 can be provided with different arrangements of through-holes. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the first and second further spacer units 330, in this embodiment being the two semi-floating spacer units, have an identical arrangement of through-holes, through which the wires and/or strands 304 pass without experiencing any compacting deflection. In contrast, the arrangement of through-holes of the floating third further spacer unit 330 differs with respect to the former two, such that a compacting deflection of said wires and/or strands 304 is caused, as described above with respect to further spacer unit 130 of the first embodiment.

Optionally, at least one further spacer unit 330 may be located outside of the additional anchor tube 316a in the form of a floating spacer unit. Moreover, according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a guide spacer unit can be provided between the anchorage spacer unit 308 and the first furnace spacer unit 330.

Referring to FIG. 9, the three further spacer units 330 are now provided as floating spacer units. I.e., they do not abut against the additional anchor pipe 316a. As such, none of the three further spacer units 330 causes any deviation deflection.

It should be noted that FIG. 9 shows a desired deflection state with angle γ being 0°. The wires and/or strands 304 extend in parallel from the anchorage spacer unit 308 and do not show any deviation deflection. The further spacer unit 330 located closest to the compacting clamp unit 324 uniformly deflects the wires and/or strands 304, in particular the wires and/or strands 304a and 304b, towards the compacting clamp unit 324, thereby generating the desired amount of compacting deflection, in particular due to arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes, as outlined with respect to FIGS. 5a und 5b. As a result, the wires and/or strands 304 are transferred from the widened configuration at the anchorage spacer unit 308 to the side-by-side configuration at the compaction clamp 324.

Claims

1. Anchorage arrangement for anchoring a cable including a plurality of wires and/or strands to a building structure, said cable, said wires and/or strands and said building structure not being part of the anchorage arrangement, said anchorage arrangement comprising:

an anchorage unit adapted and intended for being fixed to said building structure, adapted and intended for fixing free ends of said wires and/or strands and comprising an anchorage spacer unit, said anchorage spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a widened configuration, and

a compacting clamp unit adapted and intended for compacting the wires and/or strands in a side-by-side configuration and being located at a predetermined distance from said anchorage unit,

wherein the anchorage arrangement further comprises a further spacer unit located between said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit, said further spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a further widened configuration.

2. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the anchorage arrangement further comprises an exit pipe adapted and intended for surrounding the wires and/or strands and adapted and intended for being fastened to an outer surface of the building structure, said further spacer unit being located inside said exit pipe or adjacent a free end of said exit pipe outside said exit pipe.

3. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the further spacer unit is a floating spacer unit, i.e. a spacer unit being not in contact with the anchorage unit or the exit pipe thereof.

4. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the anchorage arrangement further comprises a guide spacer unit located between said anchorage spacer unit and said further spacer unit, said guide spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a widened configuration.

5. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 2,

wherein the anchorage arrangement further comprises a guide spacer unit located between said anchorage spacer unit and said further spacer unit, said guide spacer unit including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a widened configuration; and

wherein the guide spacer unit is located at a further predetermined distance from the free end of said exit pipe.

6. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein at least a portion of the inner wall of the through-holes of at least one of the spacer units, anchorage spacer unit, further spacer unit and guide spacer unit, is arcuate having a predetermined curvature.

7. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 6,

wherein a radius of the predetermined curvature amounts to at least 2 m.

8. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the through-holes of the anchorage spacer unit are funnel-shaped widening away from the anchorage unit.

9. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes of the further spacer unit are directed all towards a central axis of the further spacer unit.

10. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the arcuate portions of the inner walls of the through-holes of the guide spacer unit are funnel-shaped widening away from the anchorage unit.

11. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the anchorage spacer unit, the further spacer unit and the guide spacer unit is made from polyethylene, e.g. HDPE.

12. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the anchorage spacer unit, the further spacer unit and the guide spacer unit comprises a plurality of, e.g. disk-shaped, spacer sub-units each including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough, at least one of the plurality of spacer sub-units being made from a material selected from HDPE, plastic foam, rubber, steel and high strength grout.

13. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 1,

wherein the anchorage arrangement comprises a plurality of further spacer units, all being located between said anchorage spacer unit and said compacting clamp unit, said further spacer units including a plurality of through-holes adapted and intended for passing said wires and/or strands therethrough in a further widened configuration.

14. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 13,

wherein at least one of the further spacer units has an outer diameter which is different from the outer diameter of the at least one neighboring further spacer unit.

15. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 13,

wherein the outer diameters of the further spacer units decrease from the anchorage spacer unit towards the compacting clamp unit.

16. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 13,

wherein the arrangement of through-holes of each further spacer unit is identical, or

wherein the arrangement of through-holes of each further spacer unit differs with respect to the arrangement of through-holes of the at least one neighboring further spacer unit.

17. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 7,

wherein a radius of the predetermined curvature amounts to at least 4 m.

18. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 17,

wherein a radius of the predetermined curvature amounts to at least 4.3 m.

19. Anchorage arrangement according to claim 14,

wherein each of the further spacer units has an outer diameter which is different from the outer diameter of the at least one neighboring further spacer unit.