CA1201895A - Commonwealth flexible wall dams series 3,(abbreviated as cfd3) - Google Patents

Abstract

l-ABSTRACT

The present invention deals with self-supporting flexible wall liquid retaining structures used for water dams, water gates, breakwaters, water walls, reservoirs and columns etc., generally referred to hereinafter as Common-wealth Flexible Dams, Water Walls, Reservoirs and Columns, series 3-A (abbreviated as CFD3-A), using in combination;
a) an upstanding, elongated, flexible, impermeable, inexten-sible wall, sealingly secured at its lower edge to the base of the liquid basin, with its remaining part inclined in-ward over the liquid it retains, where the upward component of the retained liquid pressure pushes up and supports the retaining flexible wall and its attachments, while the re-maining outward liquid pressure is supported by balanced ties transferring their loads to points upstream, b) using an additional opposite symmetric flexible wall to that described in (a), with liquid filling in between and with ties connecting the opposite flexible walls to each other to counterbalance the outward liquid forces acting on them so creating a water wall capable of supporting an external waterhead of approximately the same height as the water wall itself, c) making the same flexible wall described in (a), continuous, closed in in a circular liquid filled conic shape structure resting on its larger base, with a flexible sole tightly joining the lower edge of the flexible wall skin all around and with external rings reinforcement to counterbalance the outward liquid pressure acting on the flexible wall skin, while the upward vertical component of the liquid pressure, pushing up on the inward tilting flexible wall skin, supports said skin and its attachments.

Description

2-PRIOR ART

2-1 Previous designs and patents dealing with flexible dams and water handling means used; cables, buoyants etc., to hold the upper parts of the water retaining flexible walls.
2-2 In a previous patent by the inventor, titled Canadian Flexible Dams (CFD), buoyants were used to support the upper part of the water holding flexible wall and cables to support the intermediate parts of the said flexible walls in between the waterbed and the surface of the water.
2-3 In another patent by the same inventor, titled Rever-sible Canadian Flexible Dams (RCFD), (see patent no. 1158053), opposite flexible walls, inclined upwards towards each other, with openings on each flexible wall, supported by buyoants and intermediate ties, were used alternatively for reversible dams.
2-4 The use of cables, buoyants etc., to support the fle-xible dams is costly and complex.
2-5 I~ a selfsupporting system could be designed, the cost of the supporting cables, the buoyants and good part o~ the connection system co~ld be saved, to reduce the overall cost of the structure.
2-6 If the two opposite flexible walls described in para-graph- 2~3, instead of being alternatively opened and closed to let the water in and out, if they were.
A~ Both closed at the same time with water filling left in between them and with their upper parts inclined towards each other to form somehow a waterfilled trapezoidal shaped cross section resting upright on its larger base.
B- And the upper parts o~ the opposite flexible walls were connected to each other to counterbalance the outward water pressure acting on the opposite flexible walls.

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Such described structure would stand upright without the necessity of buoyants to support the opposite flexible walls and the forces acting on them, so retaining a somehow trapezoidal shaped water wall that could support an exter-nal waterhead of nearly the same height as the water wall itself.
2-7 Besides, if the opposite flexible wall~ described in paragraph 2-6 were supported with opposite ties, balanced and connected to ~he waterbed or to each other with lateral stabilizing ties to prevent swaying of the said water wall, it would be possible to build up a higher water wall with the same opposite flexible walls holding the said water wall.
2-8 On the other hand, if one of the opposite flexible walls described in paragraph 2-7 is removed, and the inter-mediate anchoring ties connecting the r~ai n; ng Elexible wall to the waterbed, are balanced to have the direction of the water pressure resultant forces acting on the an-choring ties, pass along the line of the anchoring ties themselves without creating downward vertical forces on said ties and so eliminating the need of buoyants at the surface of the water to support the water holding flexible wall.
2-9 However, residual forces could remain abou~ the top part of the flexible wall which forces have to be supported separately by the appropriate means.
2-10 In the case of dams built in the mountains, it would be possible to tie the upper part and any part of the water holding flexible wall to areas in the mountains at the same level of the top edge of the flexible wall or even higher without generating downward vertical forces at the top edge of the flexible wall.
This means that with this system it is possible to ~ ' ~2~

build flexible dams in the mountains with l.ittle or no vertical supports, relying on the resultant upward water pressure acting underneath the flexible wall, which is in-clined to a certain degree against the upstream direction, to support the flexible wall and whatever forces acting on it, and relying as well on the balanced anchoring ties to support the horizontal forces acting on the said flexible wall.
2-11 If on the other hand, one of the opposite flexible walls described in paragraph 2-6 is made continuous, closed in in a form of truncated cone circular shape restin~ up-right on its lar~er base with its lower edge tightly fixed to the base of the cone and the upper edge joined in a con-tinuous ring to counterbalance the outward water pressure, when such flexible structure is filled with water, the up-ward vertical component of the water pressure acking on the inward inclined flexible skin of the cone would help keep the outside skin of the conic shape flexible structure up-standing, retaining inside it an upstanding water column of a certain height without any solid support to hold it.
2-12 By addin~ outside rings on the structure described in paragraph 2-11, to take place of the intermediate anchoring ties, used on the water wall structure, it would be possible to raise the level of the water column without increasing the size of the water column skin holding it.

~ --3 CFD3-A l-5 ABBREVIATIONS AND KEY WORDS

BW- Breakwater.
CFB- Canadian flexible breakwater.
CFD- Canadian flexible wall dams consis-ting of flexible, impermeable, inextensible plate supported at its up-per end by a buoyant, a cable, a structure or the like.
CFD2- Commonwealth flexible wall dams consisting of flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall supported by fluid or loose solid substance arranged or contained in a sta-tically stable structure to support the shielding f:Le-xible wall.
CFD3- Commonwealth ~lexible wall dams consisting of ~lexible, impermeable, inextensible wall installed in an inclined position over the water it holds,where the water pre-ssure acting underneath the inclined flexible wall supports the 1exible wall and the downward forces ac-ting on it, resulting in the formation of selfsuppor-ting water walls and water columns upstanding without real solid walls to hold them up.
FW- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall used to re-tain and hold water.
FWR- Flexible water reservoir.
PL- Drawing plate or sheet.
RCFD- Reversible Canadian flexible dams.
WCL- Water Column.
WCLS- Water column skin.
WL- Waterlock WW- Water wall.
The term ~ater is used to mean liquids as well.

3- DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION THROUGH THE DRAWINGS.

I- Plate 121 shows a true water wall without major buoyants, supporting the outward water pressure. It consists of opposite restrained flexible walls anchored to the water-bed and tilted on top towards each other with their top edges connected to each other, causing the internal water to lift them up.
II- Plate 122 shows a selfsupporting true water column using an impermeable, inextensible, flexible wall made con-tinuous in a closed-in, circular, truncated,cone-shape struc-ture resting upright on its larger base, retainlng a water column inside it and provided with rings to counterbalance the outward water pressure acting on the flexible wall skin of the cone.
(For P1. 122 to 128 see section CFD3-B) III- Plate 129 shows an upward selfsupporting single fle-xible wall dam representing one side of the counterbalanced flexible walls shown on P1. 121.

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CFD3 -A 1~ 7 3-1 DESCRIPTION OF NUM13ERED COMPONENTS.

No~ 1, 2 - Opposite, flexible, impermeable, inextensible, reinforced plates sat upright to contain within them a txue water wall without a substantial buoyant to support them.
3- Anchoring line at the base of the flexible wall no. 1.

4- Anchoring line at the base of the flexible wall no. 2.

5- Ties anchoring intermediate points of the flexible wall no. 1 directly or indirectly to the waterbed.

6- Ties anchoring intermediate points of the flexible wall no. 2 directly or indirectly to the waterbed.

7- Anchoring platforms to the ti~s no. 5.

8- Anchoring platforms to the ties no. 6.

9- Upper ties tying the top of the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

10- Water level inside the opposite flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

11- Water level outside one or both of the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.
In the case of tldal powers, different water levels could be outside the flexible walls no. 1 and 2.

12- Middle posts or continuous walls (not shown) could be used to tie the ties no. 5 and 6, without bringing them down to the waterbed.
The opposite ties no. 5 and 6 tying the opposite fle-xible walls no. 1 and 2, could be connected to each other directly to counterbalance their forces. However, additional lateral ties would be needed to prevent the water wall from swaying one way or the other.
It is possible to remove one flexible wall and tie the other to fixed points upstream.

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PL~TE 122.

No. 1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible,wall rolled in a circular way to end in an upright truncated conic shape with a watertight flexible sole (like no. 2) at its base and outside horizontal rings (like no. 3) to restrain the outer skin of the so-formed watar column to assume the re-quired shape when filled with water.
2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane that makes part of the water column skin (like no. 1).
3- Horizontal rings supporting the outer skin of the water column at different levels to have it assume the re-quired shape needed to balance the water pressure acting on the conic shaped skin of the water wall in order to eli-minate the residual downward components generated by the inclined ties.
4- Transversal ties tying the rings no. 4 to reduce the stresses on them.
5- Additional, internal, diagonal ties to add to the stability of the water column and prevent it from swaying in one direction or the other.
These ties are arbitrary and could be replaced by external ties.
6- Top ring joining the upper edges of the water wall skin and balancing the upper residual stresses on the skin.
7- Water level inside the conic shape, selfsupporting water column.
8- Clamps connecting the diagonal ties no. 5 to the trans-versal ties no 4 to give rigidity to the water column and prevent it from swaying in one direction or the other.

1~_ 'r' Rev. 1 (For Pl. 123 to 128 see section CFD3-B) No.l- Water~retaining flexible wall, tightly anchored along its lower edge to the waterbed, supported along its upper edge with ties like no. 4 extending upstream, and supported at intermediate points in between the waterbed and the sur~
face of the water with balanced ties like no. 2,3, extending upstream and anchored to the waterbed.
2,3,4-Ties extending upstream (see above).
5- Waterlevel.

6- Waterbed.
7- Cable beams supporting the back of the flexible wall PLATE 129- Rev. . ~ A~DITIONAL FEATURES

~A, 3A - Solid spacers along the ties 2 and 3.
4A - Arched header cable transferring the loads from the ties like 4B to opposite supports away from the centre of the water basin.
4B - Ties transferring the loads from the u~per edge of the flexible wall No. 1, to the arched header cable 4A.
7A - Solid spacers along the cable beams like No. 7.

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4-1 Instead of providing vertical supports to support the water holding flexible membrane and the forces acting on it, efforts are made here to harness the water pressure itself to lift up the flexible membrane that retains the water.
4-2 In the case of a flexible wall dam, if the flexible wall is inclined against the upstream direction of the wa-ter, the water pressure acting underneath the flexible wallwould exert on the flexible wall an outward horizontal pres-sure, and an uplifting vertical pressure proportional to the inclination o~ the flexible wall against the upstream water.
4-3 See Pl. 121 - TRUE SELFSUPPORTING WATER WALLS
Pl. 121 shows opposite, impermeable, inextensible, flexible walls (like no. 1, 2) containing water in between them and installed in a balanced way that would allow them to retain a water wall in between them and support an ex-ternal waterhead without the need of a substantial buoyant to support them at the surface..of the water.
4-4 Upon reviewing the designs in CFDl where the water retaining flexible wall was substantially inclined against the upstream water to have the flexible wall ride over the water, using water underneath it as a saddle and converting the water pressure from the horizontal direction to an in-clined upward direction that could be broken into a hori-zontal direction and an upright vertical direction.
4-5 However, to harness these vertical upright forces, the cable beams and the anchoring ties supporting them had to be balanced by balancing the curvatures of the membrane in a way that the upward forces acting on the upper leg of the lower arched flexible wall is balanced by the downward forces acting on the lower leg of the adjacent upper fle-xible wall so that the direction of the resultant forces acting on the joint would pass throuyh the tie tying that joint so eliminating the vertical downward ~orces that re-~uired buoyants at the surface of the water to support the vertical downward forces generated by the inclined anchoring ties tying the unbalanced water retaining flexible wall.
4-6 However, residual, substantially horizontal forces are left at the upper leg of the top arch formed by the restrained flexible wall.
4-7 In the RCFD patent (already issued) use was made of opposite ~lexible walls to support a waterhead ~rom either side of the flexible walls.
On a similar pattern use is made here of opposite restrained flexible walls used to:
A- Counterbalance each other, including the residual forces at the upper arches of the flexible membranes, with-out substantial buoyants to support them.
B- The erection of a water wall supported by opposite, restrained, balanced flexible walls ending in a basically trapezoidal shape cross section which combination of balan-ced arched flexible walls and the trapezoidal shape water wall would give the water wall a character as if it is standing on an angle of repose, which fact gives the whole assembly a better position and a relative rigidity, to stand up against high waterheads on either side of the water wall as if it was a solid concrete dam limited only by the strength of reinforcing cables of the flexible wall.
4-8 The present design on Pl. 121 shows two opposite fle-xible walls (like no. 1 and 2~ tightly anchored at their -D

lower edges to the waterbed (see no. 3, 4) and the remai-ning parts are tilted towards each other to end in a basi-cally trapezoidal cross section shape which ~ives the wa-ter wall a better stability to stand up against the inter-nal and external water pressure acting on it,.
4-g The opposite flexible walls are supported at inter-mediate lines in between the waterbed and the surface of the water with cable beams and anchoring ties (like no. 5, 6) calculated and balanced to have the direction of the resultant forces acting on the ties, pass through the ties themselves without generating vertical downward forces that would require a buoyant at the surface of the water to sup-port them~
4-10 Said anchoring ties (no. 5, 6) could be anchored di-rectly to th~ waterbed (see no. 7, 8) or to intermediate structures that could trans~er their stresses wherever possible.
4-11 The upper ends of the flexible walls are connected to each other with connections (like no. 9) that could trans-fer forces to each other so that the residual forces at the upper parts of the flexible walls are counterbalanced with each other.
4-12 The already described water wall could support dif-ferent waterheads on either side of the wall~
4-13 See Pl. 122 - TRUE SELFSUPPORTING WATER COLUMNS
If a truncated pyramid is built of solid impermeable sides (standing upright on its larger base) and filled with water, the resultant, upright water pressure acting on the four walls of the pyramid would tend to uplift and detach the inward slanted four walls of the pyramid from their base.
4-14 If two opposite walls of the truncated pyramid are extended to a c~rtain length, the two opposite extended solid walls would be subjected to an upward vertical re-sultant due to the internal water pressure on the inward slanting extended walls.
4-15 If one of the extended walls of the pyramid is taken out and the opposite extended wall is still subjected to the same water level (say from a flow of a stream etc.), the extended wall would still be subjected to the same uplifting water pressure as it was before removing the oppcsite wall.
If that remaining extended wall was extended for a considerable len~th it would need supports to take the ho-rizontal component of the outward water pressure and its uplifting vertical component.
These forces could be supported by either:
A~ ~ solid structure on the downstream area of the solid wall of the pyramid which could take the stresses in com-pression as is the case of the conventional solid dams.
B- Or by ties connected to that r~A;ning prolonged side of the original pyramid and extended to be anchored to a fixed point in the upstream area, which ties would take the stresses in tension instead of compression.
4-16 The balanced ties described in the previous paragraph in combination with that solid wall of the remA;n;ng pro-longed side of the pyramid would hold the waterhead acting on them without the need of a buoyant at the surface of the water in a way as if the water is assuming an angle of repose to rest on it.
4-17 If the rPmA;n;ng extended wall of the pyramid is re-placed with a flexible wall, even that the flexible wall would take a curvaceous shape, this does not upset the ba-lance of the tension ties that were holding the remaining ~4~ 5 straight, solid wall of the pyramid.
4-18 To reduce the stresses acting on the flexible wall the one s~an arched, flexible wall, replacing the solid wall of the pyramid, is subdivided into multi spans and multi curves or arches which are balanced with each other to eliminate the residual downward vertical forces and, in certain cases, generate upward vertical components to carry the flexible wall and its accessories etc.
4-19 Since the water pressure increases with the depth, the lower arches closer to the waterbed would be smaller than the adjacent arches above them.
4-20 The resultant, balanced forces would generally be in the same direction as the direction of the tension ties connecting the flexible wall to fixed points on the water-bed or elsewhere upstream.
4-21 On the other hand, if the original truncated, solid pyramid described in paragraph 4-13 is replaced with a fle-xible wall waterfilled, truncated, circular cone resting upright on its larger base, even that the outer skin of the flexible cone would assume a single arch all around, this would not upset the balanced u~ward resultants that were acting on the four opposite solid walls of the pyramid.
4-22 To reduce the stresses on the outer skin of the cone, the one arched, flexible outer skin of the cone is subdi-vided into multi spans, multi arches flexible wall, which arches are balanced with each other to have the resultant forces acting on them, have the same direction as the di-rection of the ties anchoring them to the waterbed, leaving some residual, upward forces to carry the outer skin of the cone with its accessories etc.
4-23 In the case of a circular, conic structure as already described, instead of the internal ties restraining the s flexible skin of the cone, such a structure could have horizontal outside rings at different levels to restrain the flexible skin of the conic structure (like no. 3, Pl.
122).
Besides, for large diameter water columns, these ho-rizontal rings could be tied with transversa:L ties (like no. 4) to reduce the stresses on them.
Also, additional internal diagonal ties (like no. 5) or external ties (not shown) could be added to stiffen the flexible structure and prevent it rom swaying.
4-24 A top ring, solid or flexible, is used to balance the residual outward water forces acting on the skin (like no. 1) of the flexible truncated cone.
4-25 Additional clamps (like no. 8) could be added to con-nect the diagonal stabilizing ties (like no. 5) to the trans-versal ties (like no. 4) to prevent the flexible skin o the cone from bulging out one way or the other at interme-diate levels and help keep the water column standing up straight.
4-26 Instead of the diagonal stabilizing ties (like no.
5) a fixed upright central pos~ (not shown) could be instal-led at the center of the cone and the transversal reinfor-cing ties (like no. 4) could be connected to it, which fact keeps the cone skin and the outside rings supporting it equidistant fxom the center of the cone and prevents the water column from swaying away in any direction.
4-27 Such described conic structure with or without restrai-ned flexible outer skin, balanced to be self-standing with-out substantial buoyants at the surface of the water could be referred to as a TRUE WATER WALL or WATER COLUMN.
4-28 The same principles used for water walls and water columns is applicable for waterlocks, where the gate of ` !_..' ~Z~

the waterlock could consist:
A- of a single impermeable flexible wall similar to one of the opposite flexible walls shown on plate 122, in cer-tain cases, with an additional mechanism that would slide up and down the opposite vertical edges of the flexible wall while the balanced upstream anchoring ties would sup-port the outward water pressure in the waterlock basin, and in other cases, inflated buoyants could be attached to the flexible wall gate to lift up the flexible wall with the rising water level inside the basin of the waterlock while the balanced anchoring ties (like no. 5, 6) would support the outward water pressure in the basin.
B- Of two opposite flëxible walls (like no. 1, 2~ shown on plat~ 122 with systems to move the ~lexible walls up and down similar to those described in the previous paragraphs 4-28~A.
4-29 In certain cases the anchoring ties extending upstream, used on the flexible wall gate to support the outward water pressure, are replaced by substantially horizontal cable beams supporting the back of the flexible wall and connec-ted to ~ixed points at the opposite sides of the waterlock basin.
Such cable beams could be provided with winch means to release the supporting cable beams and let the flexible wall gate fall down towards the waterbed to let the vessels pass, and pull up the cable beams and the flexible wall gate to close back the waterlock basin.
~-30 Similar cable beam systems, with or without winch means, could be used in certain cases to replace the ancho-ring ties supporting the outward water pressure on the fle-xible wall dams described in paragraphs 4-15 B to 4-20.
Such cable beams could be provided at the back of the fle-3 2~

xible wall dam to support the outward water pressure on the flexible wall and transfer ~heir stresses to fixed points at the opposite sides of the dam.
In such cases the cables supporting the upper ed~e of the flexible wall have to be connected to fixed points at the same level of the top edge of the flexible wall or at higher level above.
4-31 The basic principles governing the true selfsuppor-ting water walls and water columns could be abbreviated as follows:
lst- It is understood that the water pressure acting un-derneath an inclined solid straight wall exerts a horizon-tal outward pressure, and a vertical upward pressure pro-portional to the inward inclination o~ said wall.
This fact holds true even when the straight solid wall is replaced with a flexible, impermeable wall.
2nd- A water wall is a wall of water assuming basically trapezoidal cross section shape resting upright on its lar-ger base and retained upright with two opposite wall skins tightly anchored at their lower edges to the base of the water wall and connected at their upper edges to each other to counterbalance the opposite outward water pressure ac-ting on them.
3rd- To reduce the stresses acting on the opposite wall skins retaining the water wall, rows of ties are connected to the opposite wall skins at different heights and trans-fer their loads to each other or to opposite points at the base of the water wall or further beyond.
4th- In the case of flexible wall skins retaining the wa-ter wall, the arches formed by the flexible wall skin are balanced to have the direction of the resultant of the wa-ter pressure forces acting on the flexible wall skin pass along the line of the anchoring ties tying the said flexi-ble wall skins.
5th~ For the same size of flexible wall skins, the larger is the number of rows of ties supporting the flexible wall skins, the higher would be the resulting water wall.
6th- Unequal num~er o rows supporting the opposite fle-xible wall skins upset the balance of the flexible wall skins and tilt the water wall to the side with less suppor-ting rows of anchoring ties.
7th- Water walls as described above could be used as dams to replace solid conventional dams.
For waker wall dams in steep valleys, to have the water wall tilting against the upstream direction, the fle-xible wall skin on the downstream side should have larger number of rows of~anchoring ties than the fle~ible wall skin at the upstream side o~ the water wall.
This ~etting is also advantageous for water wall dams in flat areas as it gives the water wall an advantage to have it inclined against the upstream water pressure.
8th- A water wall dam as descxibed above could support an e~ternal waterhead of approximately 9/10 of the height of the water wall itself.
9th- The water walls have to be provided with a make-up water supply to keep the water level of the water wall at least 10% higher than the waterhead it supports.
lOth- Circular closed-in water walls are called water columns.
llth- Water columns use external rings to counterbalance the opposite outward internal water pressure acting on them instead of the rows of ties used on the water walls.

12th- The above mentioned rules will be referred to as the Commonwealth Blind Water wall Rules and abbreviated as CBWR.

CF~3-A 1-19 4-32 (see Pl. 129) Plate 129 shows an upward selfsupporting, single, flexible wall dam representing one side of the coun-terbalanced flexible walls shown on Pl. 121 (see paragraphs 4-3 to 4-6), using the upward component of the internal water pressure, pushing up on an upstream inclined flexi-ble wall, retaining said water, to support said flexible wall.
4-33 The water-retaining flexible wall is supported, at intermediate points between the waterbed and the surface of the water, with ties like no. 2, 3 extending upstream and anchored to the waterbed.
Said ties are designed to have the direction of the resultants o the forces acting on the arched flexible wall pass all along through the ties themselves, so that these ties would not generate any downward forces on the flexible wall.
3-34 Usually, a residual, unbalanced, outward, horizontal force remains, towards the upper half of the upper arch of the flexible wall, which residual unbalanced force could be supported by ties like no. 4 extending upstream.
4-35 On plate 121, opposite water-retaining ~le~ible walls, similar to that shown on Pl. 129, are used, where said re-sidual unbalanced horizontal forces towards the top of the flexible walls are counterbalanced with each other, resulting in an independent, selfsupporting flexible wall/water wall dam, capable of supporting an external water head about the same height o~ the water wall itself.
4-36 In the case where opposite counterbalanced flexible walls are used as in Pl. 121, the ties of one wall could be connected to the similar ties of the opposite wall to counterbalance each other.

12~ 9~

Rev. 1 However, for water walls with narrow base and large comparative height, additional diagonal ties, internally in between the opposite flexible walls or external to the flexible walls, would have to be added, in that case, to prevent the water wall from swa~ing laterally in one way or the other.

4-37-~See Pl. 129 - Rev. 2) Plate 129, Rev. 2, shows additional features generally used when the water retaining structure is to be,used as a water gate that is destined to be lifted up and lowered down frequently to allow the water level inside the basin to rise and fall as needed.
4-38- ~n arched header cable like 4A, is used to collect the loads ~rom the ti.es like No. ~ and transEer it to opPosite supDorts away from the center of the water basin.

4-39~ To lower the flexible wall like No. 1, the arched header cable is released at both ends which fact releases the top edge of thë flexible wall ~nd allows it to fold down to the water bed.
To raise the flexible wall No. 1, the opposite ends of the arched header cable are pulled up, which fact pulls up with it, the top edge of the flexible wall No. 1, which retains the water inside the basin and help raising the water level ins;de said basin.

4-40- Figure 1, on Pl. 129, Rev. 2, shows a plan view of the arched header cable 4A, and the ties 4B.
The roll of the ties 4B, is to transfer the loads from the upper edge of the flexible wall No. 1 to the arched header cable like 4A.

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~L~a~18~5 4-41- Generally the arched header cable like ~A, is installed like an inclined suspended bridge cable where the connection points C and D are at higher elevations and further upstream than the rest of the arched cable.
4-42 -To allow the flexible wall to fold down and unfold in regular pattern, the following measures are taken:

A - The ties like No. 2,3 are provided with solid spacers in between their anchoring points and connection with the cable beams like No. 7.
At the same time the cable beams like No. 7, are equally provided with substantially horizon-tal solid spacers in between the anchoring ties like No. 2 and similiar spacers in between the ties like No. 3.

B - In certain cases, the ties like No. 2,3 and the supporting cable beams like No. 7, are re-placed with solid members hinged at their points of inter section.

4-43~ The solid spacers like 2A,3A, the same as the solid ties replacing them~ are used to:

A - Allow the flexible wall No. 1, to fold down and unfold in an inclined accordian pattern.

B - Support the flexible wall No. 1, until the water pr~ssure behind the ~lexible wall builds up and supports said flexible wall.

~i The present adjoint invention deals with flexible water locks, water gates etc., generally used to allow navigation of vessels in between basins of different water levels, making use of the resultant upward water pressure pushing up on an inclined wall retaining said water, to support said wall, in a variety of systems ;
a) using interconnected opposite flexible walls retaining, in between them, a water wall to support the outside water pressure b) using water filled closed in flexible mobile tubular sections with controlled openings c) using single flexible walls installed at the opposi.te sides of the canal, mounted in certain cases on rails and in other cases on opposite pi~oting shaEts d) using single flexible walls rolled on upright sha~-ts installed at the opposite sides of the canal and unro].ling t.owards the center of th~ canal e) using single flexible wall mounted on a horizontal shaft installed transversally on the floor of the canal f) using single flexible walls installed in an upright V
shape, anchored to the water bed, open back in an accor-dian pattern, and close and interlock about the center of the canal.

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CFD3~B ~-2 2-1 The existing conventional water locks and water gates present various disadvantages :
a) they are massive b) it takes a long time to build them c) they are costly to build d) the water gates transfer their loads to the opposite sides of the canal which fact requires massive pillars on both sides of the canal to support them e) the water gates open and close through the water with open arms which fact causes the water to exert heavy resistance to the moving gates and limits their speed.
2-2 The new invention described in the present patent have numerous advantages over the existing conven-tional solid water locks and water gates, namely :
a) they could be prefabricated and assembled on site in a short period`of time b) they could be removed and installed elsewhere and even in a different pattern c) they require much less material resulting in a lighter weight d) they open and close knifing through the water without allowing the water to exert any substantial resistance to their movement e) some of the systems described in the new invention transfer their loads to the floor of the canal ~eeping the opposite sides of the ccnal unloaded, which ~act allows the erection of water locks and water gates anywhere amid water, eliminating the need of erecting heavy pillars on both sides of the gates to support said gates.

~2~

3-1 DESCRIPTION OF THE lNV~N~l~10~ TH~OUGH THE D~AWINGS
I Plate 123. Pl. 123 shows two opposite sections of a mobile flexible water gate, made of two opposite counter balancing flexible walls, mounted on rails.
II Plate 124. Pl. 124 shows two opposite sections of a water lock made of two opposite counter balancing flexible walls mounted on substantially horizontal pivoting shafts.
III Plate 125. Pl. 125 shows two opposite sections of a water lock made of a cable supported flexible wall inclined upstream.
The two opposite sides of the flexible water lock could be mounted on rails and could be mounted on substantially horizontal pivoting shafts.
IV Plate 126. P1. 126 shows two opposite sections oE an inclined flexible water lock. Each section is rolled on an upright shaft inclined upstream against the water direction and supported with ties connected upstream to the walls of the canal.
V Plate 127. Pl. 127 shows a flexible wall water lock inclined upstream, supported with ties extending upstream on a horizontal pivoting shaft.
VI Plate 128. Pl. 128 shows two opposite upright flexible walls inclined upstream, supported with ties extending upstream and pivoted at the center of the canal to open in a V shaped pattern.

Plate 123 No. 1 Canal No. 2 Housing canal for the mobile water gate No. 3,~ Supply canals used to prefill the water gates prior to the low water basin No. 5,6 Opposite sections of the water gate No. 7 Rails No. 8 Pull-in cables No. 9 Pull;out cables '~ 3~

.. ,.;

No. 10 Tongue and groove at the edyes of the housing canal and the outer edge of the water gates to prevent water leakage No. 11 Flexible walls No. 12 Loops at the lower ends of the flexible walls. The water pressure forces said loops against the rails and prevents water seepage.
Besides, said loops prevent the flexible walls, and the structure attached to it, from sliding away.
No. 13 Cable beams at the top of the flexible walls No. 14 Cable beams at the middle of the flexible walls No. 15 Ties to supporting the cable beams No. 14. In certain cases said ties connect the opposite cable beams to each other to counter balance their forces and in other cases said ties transfer their loads to the water bed.
No. 16 Ties connecting the top cable beams to each other to counterbalance their forces. ~dditional diagonal ties are used in certain cases to prevent the water wall from swaying one way or the other. Said diagonal ties connect the upper parts of the flexible walls to fixed points to prevent them from swaying.
No~ 17 Beams joining rails No. 18, Saddle-shaped scructures to hold the opposite & 19 flexible walls in place.
No. 20 Beams joining saddles No. 21, Tension cables supporting the upper parts of the & 22 water gate to compensate for the higher water level required inside the water gate over the water level inside the basin closed by the water gate.
No. 23 Pulleys around which cables Mo. 21 and 22 are rolled.
No. 24 Cables holding pulleys No. 23 No. 25 Gates on supply canals No. 3 and 4 Plate 124 No. 1,2 Same as on Plate 123 3,4,5,6 No. 7 Substantially horizontal pivoting shaft to allow the opposite sections of the water gate to pivot up and down in a door-like pattern.
No. 8 Pull-in cables No. 9 Pull-out cables ~2~ 95;

No. 10 Tongue and groove seal to prevent water seepage No. 11-25 Same as on Plate 123 Plate 125 No. l-lQ Same as on Plate 124 No. 11-25 Same as on Plate 123 o. 26 Points of connection of ties No. 16, supporting the cable beams No. 13 to the pier. o. 27 Points of connection of ties supporting the middle cable beams No. 14 to tha pier.
Plate 126 No. 1 Main navigation canal o. 2 Housing for the rolled flexible wall o . 3 Left roll of flexible wall o. 4 Right side roll of the flexible wall o. 5 Shaft around which t he flexible wall is roll~d o. 6 Block at the end of the left hand spiral o. 7 Block at the end o~ the right hand spixal : The opposite blocks No . 6 and 7 a.re arbitrar.ily ident.ified as left and right. One of them is provided with the groove and the opposite one with a tongue with means of interlocking once they engage with each other and other means of disengaging to set them apart. o. 8 Ties transferring the load from the left hand flexible wall to points upstream o~ 9 Ties transferring from the opposite right hand flexible wall to points upstream o. 10 Pull-out cables, used to pull the blocks No. 6 and 7, holdi.ng the flexible walls apart from each other while the shafts No. 5 are turning to roll the flexible wall around them. o. 11 Pull-in cables used to pull the blocks No. 6 and 7 towards each other. o. 12 Pulleys around which the pull-in and -out cables are pulled. o. 13 Flapping tongue pressing against the flexible walls, covering the shaft No. 5, to prevent leakage behind the flexible walls.
To prevent leakage at the lower edge of the flex~
ible wall, use same system as on Plate 123.

,' ~ 0~ ~ ~

Plate 127 No. 1 Main navigation canal No. 2 Flexible water retaining wall No. 3 Horizontal shaft around which the flexible wall No. 2 is rolled. Said shaft is mounted in a lower housing at the floor of the canal transversally across the canal.
No. 4 Gears at the edges of the shaft No. 3 used to operate said shaft No. 5 Motorized chain to operate shaft No. 3 No. 6 Upper shaft holding the upper edge of the flexible wall No. 7 Cables to operate upper shaft No. 8 Housing of the upper shaft and other equipment No. 9 Pulleys over the casing No. 8 around which cables No. 7 are rolled No. 10 Ties transerri~g the water Eressure loacl~, from the ~lexibl~ wall No. 2 to areas upstream No. 11 Sets o~ longitudinal rollers that would press over the edges of flexible wall No. 2 to prevent slipping out of the flexible wall due to the high water pressure on it.
The upright edges of the flexible wall are pro~ided with means to prevent them from slipping out through the rollers No. 10 and eventuall~r allowins the water to escape.
No. 12 Flapping tongue pressing on the flexible wall rolled around the shaft No. 3 to prevent water leakage from underneath the flexible wall.
Plate 128 No. 1 Canal No. 2 Flexible walls No. 3 Left upright post at the upright free edge of the left flexible wall No. 4 Right hand upright post at the upright free edge of the right side flexible wall No. 5 Pivot points for the upright posts, No. 3 and 4 No. 6 Right side housing area for the right side flexible wall No. 7 Left side housing area for the leit side flexible wall !

No. 8 Floor of the canal No. 9 Housing of the flexible walls below the floor of the ~anal No. 10 Pull-in cables for the left-hand flexible wall No. 11 Pull-in cables for the right-hand flexi.ble wall No. 12 Pull-out cables for the left-hand flexible wall No. 13 Pull-out cables for the right-hand flexible wall No. 14 Pulleys for pull-in cables No. 15 Pulleys for pull-out cables No. 16 Multi pulleys at top of the right-hand post, No. 4 No. 17 Multi pulleys at top of the left-hand post, No. 3 No. 18 Ties transfering the. loaas from the right-hand flexible wall to points upstream No. 19 Ties transfering the loads from the left-hand flexible wall to points upstream No. 20 Nigh water level No. 21 Low water level No. 22 Spring-loaded umbrella-type inclined pins ~ 7-,~

4-1 The present adjoint invention deals with flexible wall water locks, water gates etc., generally used to allow navigation of vessels in between basins of different water levels, making use of the resultant upward water pressure pushing up on an inclined wall retaining said water, to support said wall, in a variety of systems :
4~1-1 (See Plate 123~
One system of water gates consists of opposite mobile sections, like No. 5 and 6, each of which is made of opposite flexible walls, No. 11.
The upper edges of the opposite flexible walls, No. 11, are inclined towards each other to form a substantially trapizoidal cross-section resting on its larger base.
~ -1-2 Such a structure, when ~illed with water, uses the upward water pressure, pushing up on the inclined fle~ible walls to sustain itself upright and to sustain an outside water pressure acting on it.
4-1-3 The opposite flexible walls, No. 11, axe kept in place by means of solid saddles, No. 18 and 19, mounted on rails, No. 7, capable of moving from and to the center of the canal by means of the pull-in and pull-out cables, No. 8 and 9, where the opposite sections of the water gate engage and interlock with each other to prevent water leakage, and to develop tension strenght between each other to resist the upstream water pressure that would be acting on them once the water level builds up inside the water lock closed by said water gate.
4-1 4 To interlock the opposite water gate sections, No. 5 and 6, said sections are built with tongue and groove engaging ends, provided with engaging umbrella-type pins that interlock the tongue and groove parts once they engage in each other.
4-1-5 To open the water gate, the spring-loaded umbrella pins are pulled back with a certain mechanism to allow the tongue and groove sections to disengage from each other.
The pu ll-out cables, No. 9, are activated to pull the sections, No. 5 and 6, apart from each other along the rails, No. 7, until they are confined in their housing area/ No. 2.
-4-1-6 This system of water gates transfers the loads due to the water pressure acting on khem, to the floor of the canal via :
a) the rails b) the loops, No. 12, at the lower end of the flexible wall c) add itional solid ties installed on the saddles and moving with the saddles while engaging in their rails.
4-1-7 To give the water gate a better stability against the outside water pressure, the floor carrying the rails and the saddles above them, is made inclined against the upstream water direction resulting in a water wall tilting over the outside water column that it has to support, which fact gives the water gate assembly an advantage over the water pressure it has to support.
In this setting, the inclined supporting water wall within the water gate is set in a way that the direction of ~he resultant outside water pressure passes through the middle third o~ the base of the water gate.
4-1-8 To build up the water wall inside the water gate, the gates, No. 25, on the water supply canals, No. 3 and 4, are opened to allow the water to build up a water wall inside the water gate before that any water is allowed inside the main water lock, No. l.
4-l-9 To compensate ~or the height of the water level required in between the flexible walls, No. ll, over the outside level in the water lock canal, No. 1, additional tension cables are installed, No. 21 and 22, and connected to higher points at the opposite sides of the canal to give the water gate assembly an additional support against the outside water pressure acting on it.
4-l-lO In certain cases, instead of using two opposite flexible walls retaining a water wall between them, a continuous tubular section is used with controlled open-ings, which unit, when filled with water, acts like a solid wall against the outside water pressuxe.
~-1-ll For more information see Chapter 3, Plate 123.
(Description of Numbered Components) i~

~2~ S

4-2-1 (See Plate 124) A second system of water gates consists of opposite sec-tions the same as described on Plate 123 with the diff-erence that the opposite sections of the water gate, like No. 5 and 6, are mounted on substantially horizontal pivoting shafts, parallel to the center of the canal, which shafts allow the opposite sections of the water gate to open and close in a lift bridge pattern.
4-2-2 The opposite sections, No. 5 and 6, of the water gate are operated to open and close by means of pull-in cables, No. 8, and pull~out cables, No. 9.
4-2 3 Upon closing the opposite sections, No. 5 and 6, engage with each other in a tongue and groove system and interlock with each other to develop the full strenyth needed to support the water column acting on said gate.
4-2-4 To open the said water gate, the pull-out cables, No. 9, are activated and the opposite sections, No. 5 and 6, of the water gate are lifted up like a lift bridge and allowed to set on its side in a secondary casing canal, No. 2, provided for it outside the main naviga-tion canal.
4-2-5 The pivoting shafts, No. 7, supporting the oppo-site sections of the water gate, are inclined against the upstream water direction. At the same time, the floor of the water gate is also inclined against the upstream water direction, resulting in a complete assembly of water gate and a water wall inside it, all inclined against the up-stream water direction. Such inclination is set to have the resultant forces of the outside water pressure pass throu~h the middle third of the base of the water gate and the waterwall retained by said water gate.
4-2-6 This setting gives an advantage to the water gate and the water wall it retains over the outside water pressure.
4-2-7 The opposite sections of the water gate are also sustained by means of ties, (not shown), connected at different levels of the water gate and transfer their loads to points upstream.
4-3-1 (See Plate 125) A third water gate system consists of opposite upright sections, No. 5 and 6, each of which is made of a single flexible wall, No. 11, mounted on a solid saddle, No. 18 and 19.
- 3~ ~

S

4~3-2 In certain cases, the assembly of the flexible wall and the saddle holding it in place, is mounted on rails that allows it to roll to and from the center of the canal and in other cases said assembly is mountecl on a substan-tially horizontal shaft, No. 7, parallel to the center of the canal, that allows it ip open and close in a lift bridge pattern.
4-3-3 The water gate sections, No. 5 and 6, are operated to open and close, hy means of pull-in and pull-out cables, No. 8 and 9, that are c ~trolled by mechanisms outside the water.
4-3-4 The shafts, No. 7, and the base of the water gate are inclined against the upstream water direction.
This setting allows the retained water to push up on the retaining flexible wall and support it.
4-3-5 The flexible walls of the water gate transfer the loads acting on them d~e to the outside water pressure, by means of ties to points upstream.
~-q-l ~ fourth system of water gates consists of opposite sections of flexible walls, No. 3 and 4, rolled around upright shafts, No. 5, mounted at the opposite sides of the canal and operated by pull-in cables, No. 11, and pull-out cables, No. 10.
4-4-2 To close the water gate, the opposite rolled flexi-ble walls are pulled in towards each other by means of the pull-in cables, No. 11, that are connected to the blocks, No. 6 and 7, which blocks, upon reaching each other, they engage in tongue and groove fashion and inter-lock with each other to develop the tension strength required to resist the outside water pressure.
4-4-3 The lower edges of the flexible walls are ending with a loop increasing its cross-section. When subjected to water pressure, the massive loops sgueeze in between the rails housing them and prevent water leakage below the flexible wall.
At the same time, the loops act as an anchoring means to prevent the lower edges of the flexible walls from slipping out under the water pressure acting on them.
4-~-4 The flexible walls transfer the water pressure loads acting on them to points upstream, by means of ties, No. 8 and 9, connected to the flexible walls, No. 3 and 4, at different levels between the waterbed and the surface of the water.

4-5-1 See Plate 127 A fifth water gate system consists of a flexible wall, No.
2, rolled around a substantially horizontal shaft, No. 3, mounted in a special housing transversally across the canal below the floor level oE the canal.
4-5-2 Said water gate s~stem opens by unrolling the flexible wall, No. 2, pulling it up by means of the pull~
up cables, No.7.
4-5-3 The opposite upright edges of the flexible wall are made of a larger section than the main flexible wall and are made to pass through an upright slot along their line of operation which fact, forces the edges of the flexible walls to squeeze against the slot and prevent leak-age. Besides, this system acts as an anchoring means to the upright edges of the flexible wall.
4-5-4 Another system to prevent water leakage is by means of upright rollers, No. 11, on both sides of the flexible wall that when activated, press against the flexible wall to prevent water leakage.
4-5-5 To prevent leakage at the floor of the canal, a flexible plate, No. 12, is fastened to the floor of the canal.Under the water pressure, it presses over the rolled flexible wall, No. 2, to prevent water leakage underneath the flexible wall.
4-5-6 The flexible wall transfers the water pressure loads acting on it to points upstream by means of ties, No.
10, connected to the flexible wall.
4-6-1 See Plate 128 sixth water gate system consists of opposite flexible walls, No. 2, with their lower edges substantially sealing-ly anchored to the water bed and open and close in a V
patter folding back in an accordian shape towards the opposite sides of the canal, No. 1, extending through housings, No. 6 and 7, provided for them inside the oppo-site walls of the canal.
4-6-2 To obtain the largest clearance of the canal, with the minimum angle of aperture of the V posts, No. 3 and 4, said posts forming the V structure have their pivoting points, No. 5, at a level below the floor of the canal.
4-6-3 The V shaped flexible water gate is installed in a plan inclined forward against the upstream water direction.
This setting allows the retained water column to push up on the retaining flexible wall and support it.
L~

~18~

4-6-4 The flexible wall water gate transfers the water pressure loads acting on it to points upstream by means of ties, No. 18 and 19.
4-6-5 To close the V shaped water gate, the pull-in cables , No. 10 and 11., are activated from around the pulleys, No. 14, 16 and 17, by means of mechanisms locat-ed outside the water until the V posts, No. 3 and 4 t come to close by engaging and interlocki~g with each other to close the gate.
4-6-6 To open the V shaped gate, the pull-out cables, No. 12 and 13, are activated from around the pulleys, No.
15, by means of outside mechanisms located outside the water until the V posts, No. 3 and 4, are far apart to the required location, leaving enough open clearance in the canal to allow passage of the navigating vessels.
4-6-7 The pull- in cables, No. 10 and 11, are un.rolled further and allowed to slacken down to rest at the floor of the canal to prevent any interEerence with passing vessels.

~

~z~ s The present adjoint invention deals with open, upright, selfsupporting, flexible wall dams, reservoirs and columns used for holding liquids, using the upward component of the liquid pressure pushing up on an inward tilting flexible wall that retains said liquid, which liquid in return supports the retaining flexible wall in question.

-3 y-~2C~

2-1 For open top liquid reservoirs, the industry uses generally solid wall circular tanks, mostly cylindrical shapes, usually built of steel plates, assembled and welded on the job siteO
2-2 For open, shallow, liquid reservoirs, including above ground swimming pools, the industry makes use of solid struc-tures to form the outer wall of the reservoir and a flexible impe -a~le membrane liner installed inside the solid struc-ture, where the flexible impermeable membrane retains the water, while the solid outer wall supports the flexible lining.
2-3 The disadvantages of the large s~eel reservoirs are:
A- The steel plates are too heavy.
B- The assembling and welding operation is costly and time consuming.
C- Most of the liquids to be stored are corrosive and the steel has very low resistance against corrosion.
D- Once a tank is built in place it could not be moved to another location and remains as a dead investment etc.
2-4 The disadvantages of the shallow liquid reservoirs using a flexible liner supported by a solid structural wall are:
A- The cost of the solid structural wall constitutes 80 of the total cost of the reservoir.
B- The solid structure is cumbersome and requires time and skill to install and to dismantle.
C- In the case of swimming pools, the solid structure requires a large storage space in winter etc.
2-5 The present adjoint invention deals with all flexible, generallv boneless reservoirs that could be:
A- Prefabricated in the shop, rolled and transported to site.
-3 ~ ~

B- Could be sat in position in a very short time.
C- Could be used in one area, then emptied, rolled and transported again to another site.c D- For storage of corrosive liquids, the solid steel tanks could corrode in a very short period of time, while the rubberized flexible reservoirs are usually immune to corrosion.
E- The overall cost of the all flexible reservoirs is about 25% of either the solid steel tanks or the shallow reservoirs with solid outside walls and flexible liners inside them.

--3`~-, ~ . ~., ~.
.

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3-- DESCRIPTION OF THE lN~ N~l~lON THROUGH THE D.RAWINGS.

~- Plate 130 shows a continuous, closed-in, upright, open top flexible reservoir for liquids, having its outex wall consisting of a water wall retained in between two opposite flexible walls.
II- Plate 131 shows a continuous, closed-in, upright, open top conic shape flexible reservoir for liquids, resting on its larger base, having its outer wall consisting of a single flexible plate wall restrained with solid rings at its base and supported at its top edge with solid ring connected to the base rings with radial solid ties.
Pl. 132, 133 and 134 are not part of this text.
III- Plate 135 shows a continuous, closed-in, upright, open top boneless flexible reservoir for liquids r having its outer wall consisting of a flexible, impermeable, inextensible single plate wall supported all around with a grid of fle-xible rings interconnected with each other.
IV- Plate 136 shows a continuous, closed-in, upright, long-itudinal, open top flexible reservoir for liquids, using solid supports and ties for its single o~ter skin flexible wall.

~ ,~

~26~ 9$

3-2 DETAIL OF NUM~ERED COMPON~NTS.

l- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible, upright wall forming the outer skin of the water wall.
2- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible, upright wall forming the inner skin of the water wall.
3- Main sole of the reservoir.
4- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall used as a lining covering the whole internal part of the reservoir.
5- Outer ring supporting the outer flexible wall no. l.
6- Inner ring supporting the inner flexible wall no.2.
7- T.ie connecting the outer flexible wall no. l to the base of the reservoir.
8- Tie connecting the inner flexible wall no. 2 to the base of the reservoir.
9- Diagonal ties connecting the opposite skins of the water wall to each other.
10-- Diagonal ties joining the upper rings of the flexible walls at opposite points.
11- Ties joining the top edges of the opposite flexible walls no. l and 2.
12- Guy ropes connecting the upper edges of the flexible wall no. 1 to outside diagonal points to prevent the whole flexible structure from swaying one way or the other.

13- Transversal separation flexible walls, used to create different chambers in the water wall and as internal stiffeners.

14- Horizontal ties joining the opposite flexible walls no. 1 and 2 at different levels.

15- Outer solid ring at top of the outer flexible wall no. l.

16- Inner ring at top of the inner flexible wall no. ~.

- 3~-~l2V18~3~

1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall forming the outer skin of the liquid reservoir.
2- Solid ring at the base of the reservoir, inside the flexible wall no. 1.
3- Solid ring superimposed over the ring no. 2 from out-side the flexible wall no. 1.
4- Solid ring at the top of the reservoir joining the up-per edge of the flexible wall no. 1.
5- High tensile strength rope inside the top solid ring no. 4 6- Radial ~olid ti~s connecting the top rin~ no. ~ to the lower ring no. 3. Their main role is to give stability to the reservoir and to prevent it from swaying one way or the other.
In the case where the diameter of the upper ring is not much smaller than the diameter of the base rings and the conic reservoir approaches the shape of a cylinder, the ra-dial solid members no. 6 act as compression structural mem-bers to support the top ring no. ~ which would be supporting the increasing downpull caused by the flexible wall no. 1.
7- Clamps holding the upper base ring no. 3 over the lower base ring no. 2 with the flexible wall no. 1 squeezed in between the two rings.
8- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane tightly connected to the upper edge of the reservoir, playing the role of a floating roof on reservoirs used for storing hydro carbons and volatile fluids in general.
~- Weights distributed over the membrane no. 8 to prevent it from inflating with the least gas/vapour pressure from inside the reservoir.
r- 3 ~

~Z~L8~S

At the same time, the floating roof membrane has to be provided with drainage means to prevent the rainwater from accumulating over the floating roof and eventually seeping in through the reservoir.

1- Flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall, forming the outer skin of the reservoir.
2, 3, 4, 5- Circular flexible grid all around the reservoir, consisting of circular rings at different levels, connected to each other with transversal ties like no. 8 to keep the rings equidistant from each other.
The role of the lower ring no. 2 is to prevent the upper rings no. 3, ~ 5 ~rom sliding up.
6- Top ring joining the upper edge of the flexible wall no. l.
7- Diagonal ties joining opposite si~es of thç lower ring no. 2 to each other.
8- Transversal ties connecting the rings no. 2, 3, 4, 5 to each other.
9- Water level inside the reservoir.
10- Sets of flexible inflated tubes all around the top edge of the reservoir to prevent the upper edge of the fle-xible wall no. 1 from sinking down into the water, under little concentrated outside pressure and allowing the water of the reservoir to overflow.
ll- Diagonal guy ropes internal or external used in certain cases to prevent the structure from swaying one way or the other.

12- Solid closed hollow ring used, in certain cases, as a buoyant to support and stiffen the top edge of the fle-xible wall.
13- Radial solid legs connected to the top solid ring~
~ ~0~

~LZ0~8~5;

no. 12 to give lateral stability to the structure and pre-vent the top ring from dipping into the wate:r under heavy external pressure.

1 to 10- Same as on Pl. 135.
11- Middle right solid arches.
12- Top right solid arch.
13- Top left solid arch.
14- Middle left solid arches.
15- Left upright solid supports.
16- ~ight upri~ht solid supports.

17- Horizontal solid ties joining the suppoxts no. 15, 16.

18- Flexible ties transferring the outward water pressure acting on the flexible wall outer skin no. 1 to the solid arches 11, 12, 13, 14.
These flexible ties are continuous, extending trans-versally underneath the reservoir from one side of the re-servoir to the opposite side.

19- Tendons joinin~ the ends of the solid arches 11, 12, 13, 14, used as reinforcement to said arches.
h-maximum height of liquid inside the flexible reservoir.
r-radius of curvature that the flexible wall skin develops under the water head pressure inside the reservoir.

~ y/ _ -r~

~2~

4- DETAILS.
~-1 PI,ATE 13 0 4-1-1 Plate 130 shows a large open top basically circular liquid reservoir.
4-1-2 The outer wall of this reservoir consists of an upright water wall retained in between two opposite flexible walls like no. 1,2 built in the same pattern as described in CFD3-A
(see text CFD3-A and Pl. 121).
4-1-3 The interior of the reservoir is lined with a flexible, impermeable membrane like no. 4 covering the whole internal part of the reservoir.
~ The opposite flexible walls, like no. 1 and 2, are supported with flexible rings like no. 5 and 6 at different levels between the waterbed and the surface of the water.
4-1-5 The resulting reservoir is stabilized with horizontal diagonal ties like no. 10 and inclined transversai ties (not shown) connecting opposite sides of the reinforcing rings like no. 5 and 6, 15, 16 etc. at different levels o the reservoir.
4-1-6 Besides, the upper rings like no. 15 joining the top edge of the outer flexible wall are connected to guy ropes like no. 12, anchored to diagonally outside points.
For bet*er stiffness, the ring no. 15 is made of solid sections joined to each other to give a better firm top edge to the flexible wall.

4-2-1 Plate 131 shows an open top basically circular conic liquid reservoir resting on its larger base.
4-2-2 The outer skin of this reservoir is made of a single, flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall like no. 1 built in the same pattern as described for the reservoir shown on Pl. 122, sec~ion CFD3-A.

~L2~

4-2-3 The base of the present flexible reservoir is restrained with multi solid circular rings like no. 2 and 3 clamped with clamps like no. 7 to keep the base of the reservoir standing flat and firm on the ground.
4-2-4 The upper edge of the flexible wall like no. 1 is con-nected to a solid ring like no. ~ which is of a smaller dia-meter than the rings no. 2 and 3 situated at the base of the reservoir.
4-2-5 The upper ring like no. 4 is connected to the lower ring like no. 3 by means of solid ties like no. 6, which role is :
A- To keep the upright reservoir stable and prevent it from swaying one way ox the other.
B- To keep the reservoir in the same shape, being full or empty.
C- To support the flexible wall like no. 1, while the reservoir is being filled with liquid, before that the liquid level is high enough to create liquid pressure on the inward inclined outer skin of the reservoir, enough to push up the outer skin of the reservoir and support it.
4-2-6 For reservoirs destined to hold volatile, inflammable liguids the upper edge of the reservoir is tightly covered with a flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane like no.
8, tailored oversize, playing the role of a floating roo~, so that when the reservoir is empty, the membrane no. 8 would sag into the reservoir without allowing the air to filter underneath the membrane and mix with the gases produced at the surface of the contained inflammable liquids which fact could create a fire hazard inside the reservoir.
When the reservoir is being filled with liquid, the liquid would push up the membrane no. 8 which could remain spread at the surface of the liguidO

~ ~7L 3 ~2~

4~2-7 To prevent that the heat from the sun causes evaporation at the surface of the liquid which could push up the membrane no. 8 to form a dome filled with flammable gases at the sur-face of the reservoir, the said membrane is loaded with cer-tain weights to prevent it from lifting up easily at the sligh-test vapour pressure underneath.
4-2-8 The ~lexible membrane floating roof no. 8 is provided with drainage means to drain the rainwater and other liquids that could accumulate at the surface of the said membrane~ to prevent said water from seeping through and form a dangerous mixture with the hydro carbons.

4-3-1 Plate 135 shows a large, boneless, open top, basically circular, conic liquid reservoir resting on its laryer base.
4-3-2 The outer skin of this reservoir is made of a single, flexible, impermeable, inextensible wall like no. l built in the same pattern as described for the reservoir shown on Pl. 122, section CFD3-A.
4-3-3 In certain cases, the outer skin flexible wall like no. 1 is supported with a flexible grid, consisting of multi flexible rings li}ce no. 2,3,4, and 5 at different levels be-tween the base of the reservoir and the surface of the water.
The rings are interconnected with transversal ties li]ce no. 8 to keep them equidistant from each other.
4~3-4 The diameter of the ring no. 2 is made smaller than the diameter of the base of the reservoir and is located under-neath said base, said ring is connected at opposite points with diagonal ties like no. 7. The role o~ the ring no. 2 is to prevent the upper rings like no. 2,3,4 and 5 from sliding up along the outer skin of the reservoir.

. ~
~ 4-3-5 The diameter of the upper rings like no. 3,4 and 5 8~3~

are made calculated in a way to have balanced curvatures of the membrane in between said rings (see text CFD3-A and Pl.
121 and 122)o 4-3-6 By using rings like no. 3,4 and 5 we would be able to raise the water level in the same reservoir.
4-3-7 The more rings are used like no. 3,4 and 5, the higher could be the water level in the same reservoir.
4-3-8 By el;m;n~ting the grid of rings completely, the water level in the same reservoir would fall in certain cases about

20% from its original height.
4-3-9 At the same time, by eliminating the said rings, the outer skin flexible wall like no. 1 would have to be made ~tronger to withstand the water pressure acting on it.
4-3-10 In certain cases, the grid of rings could be made in a form of reinforcing belts that make part of the grid itself.
4-3-11 The upper edge of the outer skin of the reservoir is provided with an additional flexible ring like no. 6.
4-3-12 Besides, the upper edge of the flexible wall outer skin of the reservoir is provided with inflatable rings to keep the top edge of the skin high above the suxface of the water and prevent it from dipping into the water at the least pressure and allowing the water to overflow~over the top edge of the reservoir.
4-3-13 Although the resulting conic reservoir with its large base is generally stable from swaying in one way or the other, it would be an additional safety, to add guy ropes connected to the upper rings of the grid like no. 5 and extended ra-dially to be anchored to points outside the reservoir.
4-3-14 The advantage of the boneless, flexible reservoir in question is that it could be folded and transported from place to place and unfolded and filled easily without the complexity that accompanies the solid wall reservcirs.

.~

..9~i 4-3-15 In certain cases the top edge of the flexible wall skin is connected to a solid closed lightweight-,ring like no. 12 made to float on the surface of the water.
4-3-16 The solid ring like no. 12 is provided with solid lightweight buoyant legs like no. 13 extending radially to the waterbed fl~or in certain cases inside and in other cases outside the liquid reservoir.
The solid floating ring no. 12 with its legs no. 13 are used:
A) To prevent the top edge of the flexible wall skin from sagging into water it retains, under external pressure.
B) To give the whole structure a lateral stabilit,y against swaying.
C) The buoyancy forces of the ring and its legs add to the uplifting support of the general structure.
D) Helps supporting the flexible wall skin during the liquid filling operation until the water pressure itself would get to support said flexible wall skin.
4-3-17 In certain cases, when a longitudinal rese~rvoir is needed instead of a circular one the design of the conic circular structure is altered as follows:
A) The structure described on Pl. 135 is considered as being sawn vertically along its diameter line.
B) The opposite sections are moved for a distance apart.
C) Two opposite solid ties similar to the ring no. 12 are made to join the opposite sections of the rings no. 12 to each otherO
D) Minimum of four solid radial legs like no. 13 are installed at the intersections of the ring sections no. 12 with their new joining ties.
E) An additional flexible wall skin is made to join the bisected flexible wall all around.

3~2~

Said additional flexible wall skin is supported at its top edge by the additional solid ties that were made to join the bisected solid rings no. 12. At the same time the bisected rings like no. 2, 3, 4, 5 are connected to each other to support the added flexible wall.
4-3-18 The internal outward water pressure exerted on the added longitudinal section is counterbalanced by the solid half rings resulting at the opposite ends of the longitu-dinal reservoir.
4-3-19 When possible, the added longitudinal solid sections are connected to each other with direct transversal ties across the reservoir to counterbalance the Eorces acting on them.
4-3-20 For reservoirs destined to hold volatile, inflammable liquids the upper ed~e of the reservoir is tightly covered with a flexible, impermeable, inextensible membrane like no. 15, Pl. 135, tailored oversize, playing the role of a floating roof.
4-3-21 When the reservoir is empty the flexible membrane cover would sag into the reservoir without allowing the air to filter into the reservoir.
4-3-23 The flexible membrane cover is prevented from bubb-ling out by means of loads kept over said membrane cover.
4-3-23 At the same time, the said flexible cover is pro-vided with drainage means to drain any rain water accumu-lating over said cover.

- ~?-.~, 4-4-1 Plate 136 shows a longitudinal ~lexible wall partly selfsupporting, open top reservoir built basically in the same way as the reservoir descri~ed on Pl. 135 with the additional longitudinal part of the reservoir added as if the circular reservoir described on Pl. 135 was sawn verti-cally, the two halves were moved a certain distance apart and an additional section of flexible wall was made to join the space in between the two sawn and separated sections of the original reservoir shown on Pl. 135.
4-4-2 At the same time, the grid of rings like no. 3, 4, 5, 6 connected to each other by means of additional solid ar-ches like no. 11, 12, 13, 14 bridging the gap between the two separated halves of the original reservoir.
4-4-3 The solid arches are designed to support the outward water pressure transferred through the outer skin of the reservoir to the typical transversal ties like no. 18 that are connected to said solid arches.
4-4-4 Said solid arches like no. 11, 12, 13, 14 are further strengthened with tension tendons like no. 19 connecting the opposite edges of each arch to help said arches support the stresses transferred to them through the transversal ties like no. 18.
4-4-5 Besides, the solid arches like no. 11, 12, 13, 14 are held in place by means of upright solid structures like no.
15, 16 which are joined together by the solid tension member no. 17.
4-4-6 The typical tension structural member like no~ 17 is used to counterbalance the outward water pressure acting on the opposite parallel ~lexible walls of the longitudinal re-servoir in question.

~ y&~-s 4-4-7 Apart from this, the top edge of the flexible wall for-ming the outer skin of the reservoir is, in certain cases, ended with inflatable tubular sections to help keep said top edge floating higher than the surace of the water, and in other cases, the top edge of the flexible wall is attached to little buoys, cork, foam, wooden pieces or the like, to keep the top edge of the flexible wall floating slightly higher than the surface of the water, so preventing the water from overflowing over the sagging top flexible edge of the reservoir~
4-4-8 For the supporting rings like no. 3, 4, 5, it would give a better result if said rings are built in in the fle-xible wall like no. 1.
This fact prevents the supporting rings from sliding horizontally and vertically along the back of the flexible wall skin, and as a result the water level obtained inside the reservoir ~ould be slightly higher than if said suppor~ing rings would have been allowed to slide along the skin of the reservoir.
4-4-9 Besides, it would be preferrable to have the supporting rings made of flat belts to reduce the shearing effect of the belts against the flexible wall skin.
4-4~10 As a rule of thumb the relation between the level of the water (h) inside the reservoir and the radius of curva-ture (r) that the 1exible membrane skin forms under the water pressure is approximately in the relation of 4 to 5 or h/r ~4/5.
However, this relation is subject to many variables, namely:
A- The stiffness of the flexible wall skin.

,1~ ?i B- The number of supporting rings around the flexible _ y~

wall skin.
C- The spacing between the supporting rings.
D- The tightness of the supporting rings around the fle-xible wall skin.
E- The overall diameter of the reservoir and the water head inside it.
F- The density of the liquid inside the reservoir etc.

~ ~0 ~

!~. `, .~

9s CF~ 4-2 Rev.l 2-1 To restrain the flow of water in a certain water course, the teGhnology uses so far solid barriers of different sorts. Also, air inflated flexible portable barriers are used to a certain extent for very low water head operations, as to divert a water course or the like.
2-2 The solid water barriers like dams, dykes, etc. are costly, heavy weight and time consuming.
On the other hand, the air inflated barriers, are limited to temporary and very low water head operations.
2-3 Besides, for water gates, operating in sub zero temperature, a heat source have to be provided to prevent ice formation around the mobile parts oE said water gates and keep it operational.
~-4 The present adjoint invention uses light weight flexible dams that have the following advantages:
A- Simple, flexible uniform surface usable for low and high water heaa operations.
B- Instead of using mechanical energy to close and open the water co~rse r it uses, when possible, the water pressure :Erom a higher elevation to raise the closed-in flexible barrier.
C- Instead of using heat sources to prevent the ice formation, it uses water circulation passing through the closed-in barrier to keep the water flowing through and the flexible barrier warm enough due to the water circulation, to stay flexible.
D- It is provided with an efficient anchoring system that makes it easy to install and to dismantle and re-install in another location without any major adjustment.

~V~1~395 Rev.l 3- DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION THXOUG~I T~E DRAWINGS.

I- Plate 136, showing a plan view of t:he flexible membrane water barrier basically shown on Pl.129 ana 121, folded and anchored to the waterbed with water inlets and outlets.
II- Plate 137 showing a section view of the water barrier ~ shown on Pl. 136.

3-~ DESCRIPTION OF NUMBERED COMPONENTS.

No. 1- Flexible impermeable inextensible plate tailored and joined together to orm the water barrier.
2- Lon~.itudinal channel made in the waterbed in the shape of the letter "C" with its opening oriented upwards, used to anchor the flexible wall No. 1, to the waterbed by means of long.itudinal pieces like No. 3, inserted in-dividually to inter lock over the flexible wall inside the "C" channel.
3- Multi long itudinal blocks, inserted individually ~J inside the "C"~channel No. 2, to squeeze the flexible wall , No~ 1, inside the said channel.
4- Long itudinal blocks inserted towards the end of the flexible wall No. 1, outside the blocks No. 3, to prevent thë flexible wall from slipping through in between the "C"-channel No. 2, and the squeezing blocks No. 3.
5,6~ Joint blocks that could be of concrete or the like used to connect one end of the flexible wall No. 1, to a pier or to one edge of the water course. Said piers usually comprise tunnels allowing water inlets and outlets after passing through the tubular shape flexible wall.

.,~
.

CFD3-D 4 ~
Rev.l The main role of the water flowing through the tubular flexible wall, is to prevent the water from freezing inside the flexible wall.
7- Water inlet control openings.
8- Water outlet control openings.
9- Electric generating turbines.

3-2-2 Plate 137, Description of n~bered components.
No. 1,2,3,4 - Same as on Plate 136.
5- Keys in the form of wavy surface on the waterbed used to give the flexible wall No. 1 r higher resistance against sliding away.
6- Liquid, usually water filling the closed in,tub-ular, flexible wall No. 1.
7- Water level retained and supported by the flexible wall No. 1.
8- Flexible hard shield over the water retaining flex-ible wall No. 1, to protect it from being sheared by the ice blocks passing over it.
9- Additional reinforcement added inside the flexible wall along the hinging line to counter balance the fatigue that could happen where the flexible wall tubular unit is subject to frequent opening and closing operations by being frequently filled and emptied like in the case of a water gate.
10- Concentric solid tubular conduits in between the in-let opening No. 7 and the outlet opening No. 8.
11- Set of super imposed closed in flexible envelopes shown in Fig. 3.

. .;
~ 53 -~ZO~L~39~

CFD3-D ~-5 Rev.l A - Front envelope.
B - Middle envelope.
C - Rear envelope.
D - Anchoring line of front edge of the front envelope.
E - Mixed anchoring line for front and middle envelope.
F - Anchoring line of middle and rear envelope.
G - Anchoring line of rear edge of the rear envelope.

Fig. 1, shows the flexible wall like No. 1, made of flat open flexible wall folded and installed in place.
Fig. 2, same as Fig. 1, except that it is made with closed in all around tubu1ar structure.
Fig. 3, shows a set o~ fluid ~illed super imposed flexible envelopes tightly anchored to the waterbed.

.:
c ._~

~20~1395 ~CFD`3`-D 4-6 Rev.l ~)~'i'~LS
4-1 (See Pl. 136, Pl. 137) The present adjoint invention uses flexible, im-permeable, inextensible plate like number onej similax to the one used in CFD3-A, Pl. 129, where said plate is folded to have its opposite longitudinal ends tightly anchored to the waterbed.
4-2 Ther, said opposite edges are anchored to the waterbed by being inserted in a longitudinal channel,made in the waterbed, having the shape of the letter "C" with its opening oriented upwards like No. 2.
4-3 Following that, longitudinal solid blocks like No. 3, are inserted in mouth pieces over the :Eolded ~lex~
ible wall like No. 1 inside the "C" shaped channel like No. 2, where the longitudinal blocks interlock with each other and squeeze the folded flexible wall inside the "C"
channel leaving it tightly and firmly anchored to the waterbed through the said channel.
4-4 To prevent the anchored edges of the flexible wall No. 1 from slipping out in between the "C" shaped channel No. 2 and the squeezer blocks No. 3, the said anchored edges are made to extend for a distance beyond the squeezer blocks like No. 3 and then are rolled in opposite direction around secondary longitudinal blocks, like No. 4, and are left to extend down and be squeezed in between the "C"
channel and the squeezer blocks like No. 3.
4-5 In certain cases, the opposite anchored edges of the flexible wall No. 1 are tightly joined to each other to form a continuous closed in tubular unit.
In such case the secondary blocks like No. 4 are -ps simply inserted at the end of the tubular flexible unit, ; be~ond the squeezer blocks No. 3, where they prevent ~he B~S

CFD3-D 4_7 ~
Rev.l longitudinal closed edge of the flexible wall from slip-~ ~' . 7' . ~
ping through.4-6 To make the opposite anchored edges of the flex-ible wall better water tight, the opposite folds of the wall No. 1, that are inserted and squeezed inside the "C" channel, are cemented to each other to prevent water sipage in between the adjac~nt plys of the flexible wall.
4-7 In certain cases the resulting flexible tubular structure is anch*red to the waterbed through multi "C"
shaped longitudinal channels like that described in para-graphs 4-2 to 4-6.
4-8 The opposite open ends of the resulting tubular flexible structure are tightly and firmly fastened to solid piers like No. 5, No. 6.
Said piers are provided with internal openings that serve as water inlets like No. 7 and outlets like No. 8 to concentric tubular conduits like No. 10, inside the already closed in flexible tubular structure.
4-9 The piers like No. 5 are provided with a water inlet opening on the upstream side, while the piers like No. 6 are provided with water outlet openings on the down stream side of the structure.
4-.10 The water is allowed to flow continuously through the concentric hard conduits like No. 10, to prevent the water from freezing inside the flexible wall.
4-11 The inlet and outlet openings like No. 7, No. 8 are designed to allow the regulation of the water flow in and out of the concentric tubular structure.
The outer, closed tubular flexible wall, like No.l is provided with sep.-arate water inlets (X) and outlets (Yl, not shown, used to inflate and deflate said tubular _ 5~, _ ~Z~8gS

CFD3-~ 4-8 Rev. 1 flexible wall.
To lower the water level retained by the said tubular flexible wall, the outlet openings like tY) are enlarged and the inlet openings like (X) are partially closed, which fact deflates the water filled tubular structure and allows the water in the basin to flow over the deflated tubular structure.
4-12 To raise the level of water in the basin, both inlet and outlet openings like (X and Y) are closed and water is allowed inside the flexible tubular structure through a separate opening, from a higher elevation to in-flate the flexible tubular structure to the re~uired level so retaining behind .it a higher water head.
4-13 In case there is no water source available at higher elevation, to inflate the flexible tubular struct-ure, then water would be pumped in to inflate the tubular flexible structure to the required level.
4-14 Electric generating turbines like No. ~, could be installed at the outlet openings like No. 8, to harness the hydro enexgy created by the water head in the basin.
5-15 To give a better stability to the water filled tubular water barrier, the base upon which said water bar-rier rests, is made inclined towards the upstream direction, in a way to have the direction of the resultant forces of the water pressure, acting on the water filled tubular flex-i~le wall, pass through the middle third of the base upon wh~ch said tubular water barrier rests.
4-16 To create a better grip between the water filled tubular water retainer and the water bed base upon which it rests, said waterbed base is made in a wavy surface (see i, .~b ~ Pl. 137, No. 5~ to reduce the tendacy of the water filled _ S,~

CFD3-D 4_9 Rev.l tubular unit to slide away, and add to the anchorage effect of the tubular water filled unit with the waterbed.
4-17 The upper part of the flexible wall No. l, is shielded with a hard flexible plate covering it to protect said water retaining flexible wall from being sheared by sharp ice blocks passing over it.
4-18 The flexible wall like No. 1, is provided at its hinging lines like at ~oint No. 9 with means to prevent the fatigue and breaking of the reinforcement of said flex-ible wall, like:
A - Additional reinforcement at the hinginy lines.
B - Internal wrapped hin~es ~ree to turn inside khe rubberized flexible wall.
C - Rollers at the opposite sides of the flexible wall, along the hinging lines to prevent sharp folding and unfolding of the flexible wall.
Such rollers could be slightly moved to move the hinging lines with them.
4-l9 To avoid the use of ties and cable beams like No. 2,3,4,7, Pl. 129, the flexible wall like No. l itself is folded and anchored in the place of the ties resulting in a plurality of closed in, super imposed flexible tub-ular structures as in Fig. 3, Pl. 137, which could stand higher water heads while eliminatiny the complexity of the cable bea~s and the ties through the flexible wall.
In case the section of the waterbed, in between the anchoring lines at D E F G (Fig. 3, Pl. 137) is not water tight, an additional thin flexible wall would be added, over the waterbed in between the anchoring lines and tightly anchored along the longitudinal edges of the main flexible wall resulting in a water tight composite flexible structure all around.
_

Claims (32)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property and privilege are claimed are defined as follows:

1- A selfsupporting flexible wall dam, breakwater, wa-ter lock,water reservoir, water column or the like for use in restraining the flow of river, sea water, flood water or the like and for containing liquids in general, compri-sing in combination; an upstanding flexible wall, having elongated upper and lower peripheral edge, with the lower edge, positively and substantially sealingly secured to the base of the water basin and the remaining part of the flexible wall substantially inclined against the upstream direction of the water causing the retained water to exert resultant upward vertical forces to support the said fle-xible wall and the downward forces acting on it,with ad-ditional means to support the outward water pressure acting on the said flexible wall.

2- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, using anchoring ties connecting the upper edge of the flexible wall to points upstream to support the water pres-sure acting on the said flexible wall.

3- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one row of anchoring ties connecting the flexible wall, at intermediate points, between the water-bed and the surface of the water, to points upstream.

4- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one row of anchoring ties connecting the flexible wall, at intermediate points, in between the waterbed and the surface of the water, to points upstream, where the direction of the resultant forces of the water pressure acting on the flexible wall is balanced to have the same direction as the direction of the anchoring ties themselves, without generating downward vertical forces on the said flexible wall.

5- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one row of anchoring ties connecting the flexible wall, at intermediate points, in between the wa-terbed and the surface of the water, to points upstream on the waterbed, where the direction of the resultant forces of the water pressure acting on the flexible wall is balan-ced to have the same direction as the direction of the an-choring ties themselves without generating downward verti-cal forces on the said flexible wall, which balancing is made by adjusting the curves formed by the flexible wall in between the lines of anchoring ties where the water pressure on the arched flexible wall below the anchoring ties is balanced with the water pressure on the arched fle-xible wall above the said anchoring ties.

6- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one substantially horizontal cable beam to support the back of the flexible wall in between the waterbed and the surface of the water which cable beams transfers its loads to the opposite ends in the upstream direction of the dam.

7- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using a grid of cable beams to support the back of the flexible wall which grid transfers its loads, to a header cable at the top edge of the flexible wall, to the water-bed and to the two opposite sides of the dam which means that the water pressure on the flexible wall is transfer-red and distributed all over the four sides of the flexi-ble wall, where additional anchoring ties are connected at intermediate points of the grid and transfer their loads through the flexible wall to points upstream.

8- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column ox the like as described in claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite flexible wall with opposite similar anchoring ties connected to the ties on the first flexible wall where the forces on the ties of the first flexible wall are counterbalanced by the forces on the ties of the opposite flexible wall so forming in between the opposite flexible walls a self supporting struc-ture basically of an irregular trapezoidal shape cross sec-tion resting on its larger base and retaining in between the two opposite flexible walls an upstanding water wall, where the combined structure could support an external wa-terhead slightly lower than the water wall itself.

9- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite, flexible wall with opposite similar anchoring ties connected to ties on the first flexible wall where the forces on the ties of the first flexible wall are counterbalanced by the forces on the ties of the opposite flexible wall with additional lateral stabilizing ties to prevent swaying of the water wall in one direction or the other so forming in between the opposite flexible walls a self supporting structure substantially of an irregular trapezoidal shape cross sec-tion resting on its larger base and retaining in between the two opposite flexible walls an upstanding water wall, where the combined structure could support an external wa-terhead slightly lower than the water wall itself.

10- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite, flexible wall with similar, opposite cable beams supporting the back of the opposite flexible walls and connected to each other at the opposite ends of the dam and in certain cases with trans-versal ties connecting the opposite cable beams to each other to keep a constant rate of inward inclination of the opposite flexible walls towards each other and to reduce the stresses on the cable beams which are also provided with additional lateral stabilizing ties to prevent sway-ing of the water wall in one direction or the other, which water wall could support an external waterhead slightly lower than the said water wall itself.

11- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, using a similar opposite flexible wall with ties connec-ting the top edges of the opposite flexible walls to each other to counterbalance the opposite outward internal wa-ter pressure acting on the opposite flexible walls.

12- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, using a similar, opposite, flexible wall with ties con-necting the top edges of the opposite flexible walls to each other to counterbalance the opposite outward water pressure acting on the opposite flexible walls, with ad-ditional anchoring ties on each of the opposite flexible walls, at intermediate points in between the waterbed and the surface of the water, anchored to the waterbed where the direction of the resultant of the outward water pres-sure isbalanced to have the same direction as the anchoring ties themselves that transfer said resultant forces to the waterbed without creating downward stresses on the flexible wall.

13- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a trun-cated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which supports and counterbalances the outward internal water pressure acting all around on the flexible wall, where the vertical component of the said outward water pressure supports the flexible wall skin of the cone and the downward forces ac-ting on it resulting in an upstanding water column of a certain height having basically trapezoidal shaped cross section retained by a flexible wall skin without solid walls to support said water column.

14- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a trun-cated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which supports and counterbalances the outward water pressure, of the re-tained water column, acting all around on the flexible wall, with additional intermediate external reinforcing rings sup-porting the flexible wall skin of the cone, in between the base and the surface of the water column to counterbalance the outward internal water pressure acting on the flexible wall skin, subdivide the upright span of the flexible wall skin between the base and the surface of the cone and re-duce the stresses on the said flexible wall skin, where, in the case of large and tall water columns, said reinfor-cing rings are provided with transversal supporting ties tying said rings at different points to a central common point and in certain cases to a central fixed post to keep the flexible wall skin equidistant from the center of the cone and prevent the water column from swaying in one way or another.

15- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a trun-cated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which supports and counterbalances the outward water pressure, of the re-tained water column, acting all around on the flexible wall, with at least one additional, intermediate, reinforcing ring supporting the flexible wall skin of the cone, in be-tween the base and the surface of the water column, retained by said flexible wall skin, where the said intermediate ring is supported and stabilized by anchoring ties connected, in certain cases, to transversal, internal points outside the base of the said cone which fact prevents the water column from swaying in one way or the other.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property and privilege are claimed are defined as follows:

CLAIM 16 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in Claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite flexible wall with opposite similar anchoring ties connected to the ties on the first flexible wall where the forces on the ties of the first flexible wall are counterbalanced by the forces on the ties of the opposite flexible wall so forming in between the opposite flexible walls a self-supporting structure of a substantially irregular trape-zoidal shape cross-section resting on its larger base and retaining in between the two opposite flexible walls an upstanding water wall, where the combined structure could support an external waterhead slightly lower than the water wall itself, and where opposite structures of the so-called combined assembly are used at the opposite sides of the water course with the opposite flexible walls attached to solid mobile saddles mounted on rails result-ing in opposite mobile assemblies capable of moving trans-versally across the water course to and from the center of the water course to block the said water course, while the lower edges of the flexible walls are made with larger cross-sections moving through slots provided for them along the rails, which combinations allows the lower edges of the flexible walls to press, under the water pressure, on the slots so preventing any water leakage to the opposite side and at the same time act as anchoring means to tie the lower edges of the flexible walls to the waterbed through the rails that are themselves imbedded and anchored in the waterbed where the solid saddles themselves are also anchored in between the rails by means of rollers support-ing the saddles and rolling in between the rails while the whole assembly of the solid saddles and the flexible walls attached to them and the rails supporting them are all together mounted on a floor base inclined against the up-stream water direction ending in a structure retaining a water wall inclined all together against the upstream water direction in a way that the direction of the result-ant outside water pressure passes through the middle third of the base of the water wall and the structure supporting it,with additional diagonal ties engaging in separate rails in certain cases inside the base of the water wall and in other cases in the upstream area outside the said base, where in addition to that, both the opposite assembled stuctures are supported also at their upper edges with ties transferring their loads to higher anchoring points at the opposite sides of the water course to compensate for the additional water head needed inside the water wall over the water level of the outside waterhead supp-orted by the so-described water gate, comprising opposite flexible walls retaining in between them the said suppor-ting water wall, and where as an alternative, the oppos-ite flexible walls are made in continuous closed tubular shapes all around with controlled openings so that when the opposite sections of the water gate are closed and interlocked about the center of the water course, and the tubular water walls are filled and closed, said tubu-lar water walls will act like a solid wall to support the outside water pressure acting on it.

Claim 17 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like as described in Claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite flexible wall with opposite similar anchoring ties connected to the ties of the first flexible wall where the forces on the ties of the first flexible wall are counterbalanced by the forces on the ties of the opposite flexible wall so form-ing in between the opposite flexible walls, a self-suppor-ting structure of substantially trapezoidal shape cross-section resting on its larger base and retaining in between the two opposite flexible walls an upstanding water wall, where the combined structure could support an external waterhead slightly lower than the water wall itself, and where opposite structures of the so-called combined assembly are used at the opposite sides of the water course with the opposite flexible walls attached to solid mobile saddles mounted on substantially horizontal shafts, on both sides of the water course parallel to the center of the said water course resulting in a water gate opening and closing in a lift bridge pattern, where the whole structure is mounted on a floor base inclined for-ward against the upstream water direction to give the water gate assembly an advantage against the outside water-head it supports,and where the opposite sections of the water gate, when they are open, fall backwards to special casings provided for them beyond the walls of the water course, and when closed, said opposite sections engage and interlock with each other about the center of the water course to block said water course, where at the same time the opposite sections of the water gate are provided with tongue and groove joints to prevent leakage and with additional ties transfering their loads to points upstream.

Claim 18 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in Claim 1, using flexible walls at the opposite sides of the water course, attached to solid saddles, which saddles are, in certain cases, mounted on rails allowing them to move transversally across the water course to block said water course, and in other cases, said solid saddles are mounted on substantially horizontal shafts at the opposite sides of the water course, parallel to said water course which shafts allow the combined structure to open and close in a lift bridge pattern by means of pull-in and pull-out cables, where the opposite sections of the water gate are provided with tongue and groove joints to prevent leakage, while the lower edge of the flex ible wall is made of a larger cross-section allowing the said lower edge to be caught in an interlocking slot system,to prevent leak-age and to anchor the lower edge of the flexible wall to the waterbed through solid structure imbedded and anchored to the base of the water gate while additional ties trans-fer the load s from the water gate to points upstream.

Claim 19 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in Claim 1, using sections of flexible walls rolled on upright pivoting shafts mounted at the opposite sides of a water course where the opposite flexible walls are unrolled from around the upright shafts and pulled towards each other by means of pull-in cables to close and inter-lock with each other about the center of the water course to close said water course while additional ties connected to the opposite sections of the flexible wall at different levels, transfer the loads acting on the flexible walls to points upstream where the whole water gate assembly is mounted in a plan, inclined against the upstream water direction to use the upward components of the water press-ure acting on the flexible walls, to support said flexible walls, which flexible walls are also provided; with pull-out cables and mechanisms to operate the upright shafts, with tight joints to prevent water leakage and with pro-vision to anchor the lower edges of the flexible wall.

Claim 20 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in Claim 1, using a flexible wall rolled on a substantia-lly horizontal shaft mounted transversally across the water course in a casing below the floor level of the water course where said flexible wall is opened by unroll-ing upwards from around the transversal shaft to close the water course where the opposite upright edges of the flexible walls are made of larger sections which engage through special slots to prevent leakage and to anchor said upright edges to the sides of the water course with addi-tional strips of flexible walls covering the lower rolled part of the main flexible wall to prevent leakage beyond the horizontal shaft,and with additional rollers activated to squeeze the flex ible wall and prevent leakage wherever necessary, and the same pattern as in the previous claims the main flexible wall forming the water gate is inclined forward against the upstream water direction with additional ties transfering the loads from the flexible walls, at diff-erent levels to points upstream while, to roll up or down the flexible wall, pull-in and pull-out cables are used with additional mechanisms used to rotate the main hori-zontal shaft carrying the main flexible wall.

Claim 21 - A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water reservoir, water column or the like, as described in Claim 1, using opposite sections of flexible impermeable inextensible walls, the same as in the previous claims, in-stalled transversally across the water course with the lower edges of the flexible walls positively sealingly anchored to a floor below the level of the water course floor, which flexible walls are provided with upright posts connected to the upright inner edges of the flexible walls about the center of the water course where the said upright posts are pivoting at points below the level of the floor of the water course, where, to open the so-described water gate structure, the said upright posts holding the opposite up-right edges of the flexible walls open away from each other in a V pattern with the opposite flexible walls folding back in an accordian shape towards the opposite sides of the water course to fall in casings provided for them beyond the walls of the water course, which setting together with the low level pivoting points below the waterbed allows enough clearance to the V shaped water gate with the min-imum angles of apertures of the main upright posts down from their vertical position, where to open and close said V shaped water gate, pull -out and pull-in cables are used, operated by mechanisms that could be located outside the water, and in addition, the V shaped flexible walls are mounted in an inclined plan tilting forward against the upstream water direction with special ties transfering the loads acting on the flexible walls, due to the water press-ure, to points upstream, and to prevent leakage around the periphery of the opposite free edges of the flexible walls, said flexible walls are made with larger cross-sections along their periphery,where the larger cross-sections engage with special slots along their course to anchor said edges to the opposite walls of the water course and to prevent water leakage behind the flexible walls.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property and privilege are claimed, are defined as follows:

22- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water re-servoir, water column or the like as described in claim 1, using at least one similar, opposite flexible wall with op-posite similar anchoring ties connected to the ties on the first flexible wall where the forces on the ties of the first flexible wall are counterbalanced by the forces on the ties of the opposite flexible wall so forming in between the op-posite flexible walls a selfsupporting structure somehow of an irregular trapezoidal shape cross section resting on its larger base and retaining in between the two opposite flexible walls an upstanding water wall, where the combined structure could support an external waterhead slightly lower than the waterwall itself, and where the resulting combined water wall structure is made continuous in a closed-in cur-vacous shape creating inside said curvacous shape a large open space that could be used as a large liquid reservoir capable of retaining liquid up to a level slightly below the liquid level inside the water wall surrounding it, where, to increase the stability of said reservoir, the water wall surrounding said reservoir is tied with transversal ties, connecting opposite points of the flexible walls, retaining said water wall, with additional guy ropes connecting the upper edges of the flexible walls, retaining the water wall, to points extending on the opposite sides of the water wall, where at the same time the upper edges of the flexible walls retaining the peripherical water wall, are stiffened with solid rings joining them in addition to an inflated tubular ring that helps to keep the top edge of the flexible walls, retaining the water wall, high above the water level of the water wall itself.

23- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water re-servoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a sub-stantially truncated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which sup-ports and counterbalances the outward water pressure acting all around on the flexible wall, where the vertical component of the said outward water pressure supports the flexible wall skin of the cone and the downward forces acting on it resulting in an upstanding water column of a certain height having basically trapezoidal shaped cross section retained by a flexible wall skin without solid walls to re-tain said water column, and where the resulting all flexible structure is provided with multi solid rings at the periphery of its base, connected externally to each other to give it a certain fixed shape and a wide stable base, and at the same time said resulting structure is provided as well, at the top of the truncated cone with a solid ring joining the top edge of the flexible wall forming the outer skin of the re-servoir, with additional radial solid structural ties con-necting the top solid ring of the resulting structure to one of its larger base rings, to give the combined structure a lateral stability against swaying one way or the other.

24- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water re-servoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a sub-stantially truncated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which sup-ports and counterbalances the outward water pressure acting all around the flexible wall, where the vertical component of the said outward water pressure supports the flexible wall skin of the cone and the downward forces acting on it resulting in an upstanding water column of a certain height having basically trapezoidal shaped cross section retained by a flexible wall skin without solid structure to retain said water column, where the resulting structure is supported with a flexible grid of rings located at different levels between the water base and the surface of the water with transversal ties connecting the various rings to each other and to a further, lower ring of a smaller diameter, lo-cated below the base of the reservoir to prevent the suppor-ting rings from sliding up along the outer skin of the re-servoir, with additional diagonal ties, below the base of the reservoir, connecting opposite points of the lower ring to each other, and in certain cases, the grid of the supporting rings is built in, within the outer skin of the reservoir itself, where, said rings, external or built in, help rai-sing the level of the liquid that could be contained inside the reservoir higher than the level that would be possible to obtain when the flexible wall reservoir is made of a mere flexible wall without lateral supports and in addition, the top edge of the flexible wall is provided with continuous inflatable tubes to keep said top edge floating high above the water level and prevent it from sagging and dipping in-to the water.

25- A flexible wall dam, breakwater, waterlock, water re-servoir, water column or the like, as described in claim 1, where the water holding flexible wall is made continuous closing in in a circular shape ending in a form of a sub-stantially truncated cone resting upright on its larger base, with its upper horizontal edge joined with a ring which sup-ports and counterbalances the outward water pressure acting all around the flexible wall, where the vertical component of the said outward water pressure supports the flexible wall skin of the cone and the downward forces acting on it resulting in an upstanding water column of a certain height having basically trapezoidal shaped cross section retained by a flexible wall skin without solid structure to retain said water column, where the resulting structure is supported with a flexible grid of rings located at different levels between the water base and the surface of the water with transversal ties connecting the various rings to each other and to a further, lower ring of a smaller diameter, lo-cated below the base of the reservoir to prevent the suppor-ting rings from sliding up along the outer skin of the re-servoir, with additional diagonal ties, below the base of the reservoir, connecting opposite points of the lower ring to each other, and in certain cases, the grid of the supporting rings is built in, within the outer skin of the reservoir itself, where, said rings, external or built in, help rai-sing the level of the liquid that could be contained inside the reservoir higher than the level that would be possible to obtain when the flexible wall reservoir is made of a mere flexible wall without lateral supports,and in addition to the resulting structure, in the case where a longitudinal structure is needed, the resulting structure described above is extended at its center, as if the conic shape structure was sawn vertically into two halves and the two halves were pulled apart with additional outer flexible walls filling the gap between the separated opposite halves of the cone and making the outer skin continuous, watertight all around the resulting longitudinal structure with additional solid ties arched in the shape of bows, used to tie in between the sup-porting rings of the original, circular reservoir where said solid parallel arches are used to support transversal fle-xible ties supporting the outer flexible skin of the longi-tudinal part of the resulting reservoir, which ties extend underneath the reservoir to tie in to the opposite parallel arches supporting the opposite parallel flexible wall, and the parallel solid arches are, in turn, supported with up-right solid posts, inclined towards each other, and connec-ted at the top with additional ties that counterbalance the opposite outward forces that the outward water pressure in-side the reservoir transfers through the transversal ties and the arches supporting them, which arches are stiffened with tendon ties in the same pattern as the bow strings, with the bow strings joining the opposite ends of the bow, and to prevent the top edges of the flexible wall from dipping into the water under a little outside pressure, and allowing the water to overflow, the said top edge of the flexible wall is provided, apart from the ties joining it, with a contin-uous inflatable tubular structure that helps keeping the top edge of the flexible wall always floating high above the surface of the water, and in certain cases, the top edge of the flexible wall is attached to lightweight materials like cork, foam, little buoys or the like, to keep said flexible top edge a little higher than the surface of the water.

The embodiments of the invention in which an ex-clusive property and privilege are claimed, are defined as follows:

26- A flexible wall liquid retaining/containing structure as described in claim 1, using an additional opposite symmetric flexible wall similar to the flexible wall described in claim 1, where the opposite edges of the opposite flexible walls are tightly and firmly connected to each other to form a continuous flexible tubular structure that when closed at both ends, anchored at its lower part to the waterbed, and filled in with fluid, that is usually water, it could be used as a dam to restrain the flow of water and to support a water head behind it, where at the same time, to prevent the liquid inside the flexible closed in tubular structure from freezing, a water inlet opening is provided in the tubular structure on the upstream side towards one end of the water filled tubular dam, and a water outlet opening is made on the downstream side at the opposite end of the said tubular structure with solid con-duits joining said inlets and outlets in a way that a cert-ain water current keeps flowing through said conduits all along preventing the surrounding water inside the major tub-ular structure from freezing under low temperature ,together with separate inlet and outlet nozzles to the outer major tubular structure, where, to lower the water level retained behind the tubular structure the inlet nozzle feeding the major tubular unit is closed, while its outlet nozzle is kept open until the tubular structure is deflated to the re-quired level, and on the contrary to raise again the water structure, both the inlet and outlet nozzles are closed and water is pumped inside the tubular structure through a separate nozzle until the major tubular structure is in-flated to the required height, at which time, the inlet and outlet openings to the internal concentric conduits are reopened and put back to their normal regulating operation, where, in case large ice blocks would be pass-ing over the tubular flexible structure, said tubular structure is covered for a certain distance along its up-per edge with a solid flexible hard shoe to prevent the ice blocks from shearing the soft rubberized material forming the tubular structure.

27- A flexible wall liquid retaining/containing struct-ure as described in claim 1, using an additional opposite symmetric flexible wall similar to the flexible wall des-cribed in claim 1, where, the opposite edges of the oppor site flexible walls are tightly and firmly connected to each other to form a continuous flexible tubular structure that when closed at both ends, anchored at its lower part to the waterbed, and filled in with liquid, it could be used as a dam to restrain the flow of water and to support a water head behind it, where, in the securement of the lower peripheral edge to the waterbed comprises an elonga-ted member around which, said flexible wall adjacent said peripheral edge is wrapped, said member with wrapped wall is secured by means, within an open mouthed channel whose cross section, is substantially of "C"-shaped configuration, anchored in the waterbed whereby, the wrapped folded wall of the tubular structure is clamped intermediate said mem-ber and said channel, and said folded flexible wall tubular structure extends upwardly through said mouth, said member said mouth, said member having an outer surface substant-ially complimenting the shape of the inner surface of said channel and said lower peripheral edge including a bulbous portion extends into said mouth and is secured to said mem-ber wherein the securement of the folded flexible tubular structure, wrapped inside the "C-shaped cross section channel, is accomplished by means of a plurality of parts receivable through "C"-shaped mouth whereby said members may be assembled within said channel in a piece meal manner, where the assembled parts are squeezed together to inter-lock with each other forming a longitudinal block with a cross section larger then the mouth of the "C-shaped long-itudinal channel inside which the said built in block was inserted, which fact helps keep the built in block and the folded flexible tubular structure wrapped around it, al-together trapped inside the "C"-shaped channel, where at the same time, to prevent the folded tubular, flexible wall, squeezed inside the "C-shaped channel from slipping out, a loop is left at one end of the folded flexible tubular structure outside the built in squeezer block and longitu-dinal solid pieces are inserted all along through the said loop where said longitudinal blocks prevent the end of the folded flexible wall from slipping out in between the "C"-shaped channel and the built in squeezer block inside said channel.

28- a flexible wall liquid retaining/containing structure as described in claim 1, where the opposite longitudinal ends of the flexible wall are brought close to each other and tightly and firmly joined to each other to form a closed in tubular structure that, when closed at its both ends, anchored at its lower edge to the waterbed and fill-ed up with liquid, which is generally water, it can be used as a dam to restrict the flow of river water or the like, wherein the resulting tubular structure, after being anch-ored to the waterbed rests on a foundation inclined down-ward towards the upstream side in a way to have the direct-ion of the resultant of the water pressure forces acting on said water filled flexible tubular barrier, pass through the middle third of the foundation base, upon which the tubular barrier rests which base is made with transversal shallow canals acting like keys to prevent the flexible wall tubular barrier from sliding away and increase the anchorage capacity of said tubular barrier to the found ation base.

29- A flexible wall liquid retaining/containing struct-ure as described in claim 1, where the opposite longi-tudinal ends of the flexible wall are brought close to each other forming a large envelope wherein, the two folds forming the open ends of the envelope are anchored to the waterbed by being inserted, in certain cases through a longitudinal channel and in other cases through a plural-ity of longitudinal channels inbedded in the waterbed which.
channels have an oval cross section substantially in a "C"-shape with there opening directed upwards where a number of longitudinal blocks are inserted through the mouth of the open "C"-shape channels, over the two folds of the envelope, already inserted in the said channels, where, said longit-udinal blocks are squeezed to interlock with each other and form a one unit block whose cross section is larger than the mouth of the "C"-shape channels in which they are in-serted, which operation results in having the ends of the flexible wall wrapped and squeezed around the multi piece block inside the "C"-shape channels resulting in trans-forming the original one fold flexible wall into a tightly closed in envelope well anchored into the waterbed, where-in, by closing the opposite ends of the resulting tubular envelope, securing, said opposite ends to fixed supports and by filling said envelope with fluid which is usually water, the water filled tubular envelope could be used as a dam to restrict the flow of water in a water course, where at the same time to prevent the loose ends of the envelope from slipping out in between the "C"- shape channel and the squeezer block, both the free ends of the envelope are left extending beyond the squeezer block and are wrap-ped around solid longitudinal blocks, leaving the final free ends of the envelope to fold back and be squeezed by the multi piece main squeezer block, inside the "C"-shape channels, where, at the same time, the resulting water filled barrier envelope rests on a foundation inclined downward towards the upstream side in a way to have the dir-ection of the resultant forces of the water pressure acting on the water filled barrier envelope pass through the middle third of the base upon which. the said water filled envelope rests, which base is made with transversal ondulation making the surface similar to longitudinal troughs to prevent the lower skin of the envelope resting upon said ondulated base from sliding away and at the same time, increase the bond and the anchorage capacity between the water filled envelope and the waterbed, wherein, to prevent the water from free zing inside the water filled envelope, the water is allowed to keep flowing through the envelope from one end to the other by providing a water inlet on the upstream side at one end of the envelope and a water outlet on the down-stream side, at the opposite end of the envelope, joined by concentric conduits, where, in the case where the waterbed is not water tight an additional thin flexible wall is made to join the distance between the separate anchored edges of the flexible wall, by being inserted in the "C"-shaped channels each end of which with one end of the main flexible wall, and in certain cases, similar plur-ality of closed tubular structures are super imposed one in front of the other with the higher one in front support-ed by the lower ones behind it to form a composite flex-ible closed tubular structure which fact helps forming the required shape of the joint structure without the use of cable beams and transversal ties supporting said cable beams.

30- A flexible wall liquid retaining structure as des-cribed in claim 1, using anchoring ties connecting the up-per edge of the flexible wall to points upstream to support the water pressure acting on the said flexible wall, where, said anchoring ties, in certain cases, are horizontal and in other cases are tilted upwards, in certain cases anchor-ed directly to points upstream and in other cases connected to main header cables bridging between opposite supports and arching as an oblique suspended bridge, which main head-er cables could be released to allow the flexible wall dam to fold down to the waterbed, and could be pulled up to lift up the flexible wall and hold up the water to rebuild up the water head in front of the flexible wall.

31- A flexible wall liquid retaining structure as des-cribed in claim 1, using at least one substantially horizontal lineal cable beam to support the back of the flexible wall in between the waterbed and the surface of the water which cable beam transfers its loads to the opposite side against the water flow direction by means of anchoring ties, where, the cablebeams, are provided with solid spacers in between the transversal ties, trans-ferring the loads of said cable beams upstream, where,at the same time the transversal ties are also provided, with solid spacers between their anchoring points and the point of connection with the cable beams, making that point of connection a hinging point, allowing the water retaining flexible wall to fold back in a substantially accordion shape pattern, in a way that, by pulling the top edge of the water retaining flexible wall, horizontally against the water flow direction, the flexible wall would open up obliquely and restrain the flow of water to build up the waterhead required, and by releasing the top edge of the flexible wall, the solid spacers used on the transversal anchoring ties, together with the solid spacers on the cable beams help folding down, the water retaining flex-ible wall gradually in an oblique accordion pattern in order to lower the water level in the dam to the required height, where in certain cases, the cable beams are them-selves made totally of solid units transferring their loads upstream through equally hinged solid ties, hinging at one end to the solid cable beams and at the opposite ends to their anchoring points, where on the other hand, in the case of high water level that is not required to change frequently, the cable beams are substituted by continuous tight flexible walls equally anchored tightly to the water-bed including the top, substantially horizontal ties, are also substituted by continuous tight flexible wall anchored upstream to the waterbed, resulting in a multi compartment closed in flexible wall having substantially a similar shape to the original flexible wall that uses cable beams and ties transferring their loads to the waterbed, which fact results in a much stronger composite flexible structure that hasn't got the complexity of the cable beams and their transversal ties.

32- A flexible wall liquid retaining/containing structure as described in claim 1, using, along its hinging lines means to prevent the reinforcement and the material of the flexible wall from breaking, through fatigue, due to fre-quent movement around certain hinging lines, which means include, in certain cases, additional reinforcement along the hinging lines and in other cases, they include wrapped articulations buried inside the flexible wall and free to move inside the rubberized material of the flexible wall, where also, in certain special cases, longitudinal rollers are installed at the opposite sides of the flexible wall, along the hinging lines, to prevent sharp folding of the flexible wall in one way or the other, and in addition, by moving said rollers in a parallel direction, the hinging line itself would be moved and so, the line of stress fat-igue would move with it.