Abstract: The invention belongs to ecological revetments in the technical field of river ecology, which particularly involves an ecological revetment to regulate wandering rivers. The ecological revetment is composed of porous concrete-piles, ecological connecting-plates, an ecological viewing-corridor and a slope green-belt. The ecological landscape-corridor and anchor rod are placed on the upper and middle parts of the pile structure, respectively. In virtue of the innovative structure, the ecological revetment will strengthen the revetment structure, reduce the revetment settlement, prevent the revetment from moving, and enhance the overall stability of the revetment project. The ecological holes exist on the ecological connecting-plates, which is beneficial to the exchange of material and energy from the river course and the bank slope, and the holes could greatly enhance the self-cleaning capacity of the water body.

Abstract: A building block may be designed to hold utilities, including but not limited to, electricity and plumbing. Such a building block can resist compression forces and moment and can connect to other building blocks to form a modular wall system with the ability to distribute the forces in a way that reduces the stresses on each individual block. The building block may include a body with an upper end and a lower end, one or more main compartments, and one or more inner pass-through openings, wherein the upper end includes one or more protrusions, and the lower end comprises one or more intrusions and one or more slots. A building system may include more than one such building blocks and a base.

Abstract: A brick includes outer walls defining a hollow interior space, the outer walls including: substantially flat top and bottom walls; and side walls angled inwards toward a central portion of the NPR brick, such that application of a compressive force between the top and bottom walls causes a lateral dimension of the brick between opposite side walls to decrease. At least some of the outer walls of the brick include a material having a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR).

Abstract: A structural barrier and energy absorbing device comprises a plurality of structural elements. The structural element alone or in a plurality may serve as a traversal impediment or energy absorbing device, such as a pedestrian barrier, vehicular barrier, anti-tank obstacle, ballistic barrier, or the like. The structural element may be a tetrapod such that it comprises an element body having four extension portions that extend outwardly from the interior center to a distal end, such that the structural element maintains an identical orientation and a low center of gravity in each of four resting positions. The structural element may be a solid-state structural element comprised of a particular material or a portable and collapsible structural element wherein the element body comprises an outer skin defining an interior void space, such that during set-up or installation the interior void space may be filled with a filler substance onsite.

Abstract: A building block includes a block body of an integrated structure. The block body includes a main body, first splicing portions, second splicing portions, a first raised portion, and two second raised portions. The main body is elongated and horizontally extends from left to right. The first splicing portions horizontally extend outwards from one end of the main body. The second splicing portions obliquely extend forward or backward from a middle position of an upper surface of the main body. An outer side surface of the first raised portion recesses to form first splicing grooves tightly docked with and fixed with first splicing portions or second splicing portions of another building block. Two ends of an upper surface of the main body extend upwards to form the two second raised portions. An upper surface of each of the second raised portions recesses to form second splicing grooves.

Abstract: A structural barrier and energy absorbing device comprises a plurality of structural elements. The structural element alone or in a plurality may serve as a traversal impediment or energy absorbing device, such as a pedestrian barrier, vehicular barrier, anti-tank obstacle, ballistic barrier, or the like. The structural element may be a tetrapod such that it comprises an element body having four extension portions that extend outwardly from the interior center to a distal end, such that the structural element maintains an identical orientation and a low center of gravity in each of four resting positions. The structural element may be a solid-state structural element comprised of a particular material or a portable and collapsible structural element wherein the element body comprises an outer skin defining an interior void space, such that during set-up or installation the interior void space may be filled with a filler substance onsite.

Abstract: This invention relates to the building art, and more particularly to blocks for the construction of buildings, structures, and hardscaping items, and to a method for assembling building blocks without using mortar. A building block, configured as a parallelepiped, comprises three pairs of opposing faces, including four lateral faces and two faces constituting an upper and a lower bases, each of the faces including a plurality of elements constituting projections and recesses, wherein each of the elements is shaped as a regular pyramid with rounded edges, and the pyramid vertex angle between two opposing faces is within the range from 90 to 179.9 degrees.