GB2283039A

GB2283039A - Piling

Info

Publication number: GB2283039A
Application number: GB9418816A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Charles Jackson
Original assignee: BANK MASTER SYSTEMS Ltd
Current assignee: BANK MASTER SYSTEMS Ltd
Priority date: 1993-09-24
Filing date: 1994-09-19
Publication date: 1995-04-26
Also published as: GB9418816D0; GB9319786D0

Abstract

A plastics piling 10 is used in conjunction with a waling bar 12 to support a bank of a river or canal. The piling can also be used to provide a sealing apron in contaminated land application. <IMAGE>

Description

PILING ARRANGEMENT Field of the Invention The present invention relates to piling, a piling arrangement, a piling construction, a kit of parts for use in a piling construction and a method of constructing a piling arrangement.

Summarv of the Invention According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plastics piling. The piling is normally elongate.

Preferably, the piling comprises means for joining the piling to another piling.

Suitably the joining means comprises a shaped part of the piling. The shaped part may comprise a hook shaped strip which may be on the edge of the piling.

Conveniently the strip on one piling can cooperate with a strip on another piling to join the pilings together.

Preferably the pilings are substantially similar.

Preferably the join between the two pilings is substantially watertight. Additional material may be provided between the two strips to help seal the join.

Suitably the additional material comprises a substance that expands upon contact with water.

Suitably the piling comprises an extruded length of plastics. The plastics is preferably water impermeable, for instance polyvinylchloride.

Suitably the piling comprises means for joining the piling to two other pilings.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a piling arrangement comprising a plurality of elongate plastics pilings joined together, arranged, in use, to be located in a supporting surface.

A retaining bar can be provided arranged, in use, to be located on one side of the piles to be connected at intervals to a support on the other side of the piles.

Optionally, the retaining bar comprises a combination of metal and plastics with plastics being located on at least one outwardly facing surface of the metal.

The plastics may be arranged to be more than 3 mm thick or, alternatively or additionally, more than 10 mm thick and preferably in the region of 20 mm thick.

The outwardly facing surface which the plastics is located on may be the surface arranged, in use, to be located adjacent to the piling or, alternatively or additionally, the surface may be arranged to be that which is facing away from the piling, in use. Preferably the plastics surrounds the metal.

The metal may comprise a hollow section and plastics may be arranged to be located in the hollow section or, alternatively or additionally, may be arranged to fill the hollow portion.

The plastics may include an enlarged recess in which, in use, an enlarged portion of a connecting member that extends, in use, through the retaining bar and pile into a supporting surface is arranged to be located. An opening of less cross-sectional area than the recess may extend through the plastics, or through the metal, or first through the plastics and then through the metal towards the side of the bar arranged, in use, to be located adjacent to the piling.

At least one end of the bar may include a recess which, in use, enables adjacent bars to be connected to restrict relative transverse movement. The recess may be arranged to extend adjacent to the metal or, alternatively or additionally, within a hollow section of metal.

The present invention also includes a piling construction in which a plurality of elongate plastics piles are located in a supporting surface.

A retaining bar may be located on one side of the piles with the bar being connected at intervals to a support on the other side of the piles. The retaining bar can comprise a combination of metal and plastics and with plastics being on at least one outwardly facing surface of the metal.

The present invention also includes a kit of parts for use in a piling construction, the kit including a plurality of plastics piles arranged, in use, to be located in a supporting surface.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of constructing a piling arrangement, the method comprising the steps of: locating a first plastics piling in a supporting structure; and locating a further plastics piling alongside the first plastics piling.

The pilings are preferably joined at their edges.

The supporting structure can be the ground, but may be provided by the additional step of providing a filler material (for instance concrete) adjacent the piling arrangement. The filler will normally be alongside the piling arrangement. In an additional step there may be provided a further piling arrangement adjacent the filler material on the side of the filler material distant from the first piling arrangement whereby the filler material may be sandwiched between the two piling arrangements.

Such a method finds particularly advantageous application in the field of contaminated land pollutant containment.

The present invention includes any combination of the herein referred to features or limitations.

Brief Description of the Drawings The present invention can be carried into practice in various ways but several embodiments will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a series of piles 10 that are prevented from moving away from a lake, canal or river bank 11 by waling bars 12; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line II-II of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in Figure 1 with the bank omitted for clarity, and Figure 4 is an enlarged plan view of the edges of two linked piles; Figures 5a and 5b are cross-sectional views through alternative waling bars 12; Figure 6 is a schematic plan view of piles 10 in a support structure; and Figure 7 is a schematic plan view of piles 10 in an alternative construction in a support structure.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments Figure 1 shows plastics piles 10 driven into the ground in the same way as conventional metal piles such that their lower ends 13 are embedded to the depth indicated by the line 14. As seen in Figure 3, each pile is of corrugated form and has a channel portion 15 and outwardly extending edges 16 that link together the corresponding edges of adjacent piles.

The upper ends of the piles 10 are prevented from coming away from the bank 11 by a series of waling bars 12 that extend across the front side of the piles and that are held in place relative to the bank by a series of steel ties 17 at spaces of 1.5 m. The ties extend through openings in the waling bars and the piles to a location into the bank. At their end remote from the piles the ties are fastened to anchor piles 18. The anchor piles may include a threaded portion 19 or may have a threaded nut associated with them which the threaded ends of the ties can be rotated through by turning a head 20 on the ties in order to urge the waling bars more firmly against the piles.

After the ties have connected the waling bars to the bank then earth or aggregate 21 can be used to cover the exposed ties. The weight of that covering may also have some retentive effect in preventing movement of the ties 17.

The holes in the piles will be drilled on site.

However, the recessed holes in the waling bars that accommodate the end of the ties will be made in the factory. Thus assembly time on site can be saved.

Furthermore, the ends of each waling bar includes centrally located opening into which a locating pin 22 can extend in order to accurately align the bars. Also, as the bars are held in alignment, only one tie need be used in the region of the join between adjacent 3 m sections of waling bar rather than having to provide a separate tie for each bar at that location.

In Figure 4 there is shown an enlarged view of two edges of piles 10 joined together. The edges 26 can each be seen to comprise a hooked portion 28, the two hooked portions 28 linking with each other. The hooked portion 28 are made from the same plastics material as the rest of the piles 10, and so have some resilient flexibility.

When the piles 10 are separate, the hooked portions 28 reside in a configuration slightly more "closed" than that when linked such that the linkage of the two piles 10 requires some urging of the hooked portion 28 against their resilience. Thus, when joined the hooked portions 28 can form a waterproof seal along the edge of joined piles 10. The waterproof seal can be further guaranteed by the insertion into a hooked portion 28 of a material that expands upon contact with water, such as [details].

Two possible forms of the waling bar 12 are shown in Figures 5a and 5b. In Figure 5a the bar comprises a hollow steel box section 32 that is surrounded, both internally and externally by mixed plastics 24.

The plastics prevents air or water from contacting the metal and accordingly the metal will not corrode.

Furthermore, as the thickness of the plastics on the outside of the metal section is approximately 20 mm, even if a small proportion was worn away the metal would still remain protected. This contrasts with the use of a metal section alone where a coating can become chipped or damaged thereby exposing the metal to the environment. A further disadvantage of the prior metal waling is that they require a costly and environmentally unfriendly coating to be applied to them before installation.

An additional advantage of the relatively thick plastics on the outside of the pile is that the head of the tie can be located in a countersunk portion of the plastics, as shown in Figure 2. Thus surface metal is not worn away by the rotating head as the tie is tightened such as occurs where metal waling bars only are used which result in the protective coating of the waling being worn away. In addition, the overhanging plastics provides protection against rain falling directly on the head of the tie. The plastics recess in which the head is located prevents damage to the tie head or boats that may impact in the region of the tie head as well as creating a socket which can be packed with protective silicon gel.

Furthermore, the recessed bolt heads and the concealed metal allow the bar to present a pleasing appearance.

The plastics exterior surface of the bar limits damage to the bar and piling as well as limiting damage to a boat that may impact against the waling as the waling is able to give slightly.

The plastics to plastics contact between the waling and the piles also limits wear between these components such as may tend -to occur due to the small oscillations that the piling undergoes in normal life.

The metal section enables the waling to have significant strength and rigidity in spite of the local flexure that may occur in the plastics. Accordingly the space between ties can be maintained or increased, thereby reducing the installation costs, without impairing the function of the bar.

Figure 5b shows a wholly plastics waling 12 substantially similar to that shown and described in relation to Figure 5a except that it does not include the metal section.

The metal section is 60 x 60 x 3 mm and the overall dimensions of the waling bar are 100 x 100 mm.

Referring now to Figures 6 and 7 of the drawings, there is shown in Figure 6 a series of piles 10 of the type described above linked to form a barrier in, for instance, earth 30. The piles 10 can, if necessary, be driven into the ground directly, but it is preferred that a trench (the location of which is indicated by dashed lines 32j first be dug in order for the piles to be located therein.

Once the trench has been re-filled, the linked piles 10 form a barrier to the migration of pollutants from one side of the barrier to the other. Thus, the piles 10 can be used in contaminated land applications. Where a known volume of land is contaminated, piles 10 can be inserted into the ground around the contaminated land to prevent the egress of pollutants therefrom. The piles 10 are cheap, quick and easy to install and, because they are of a plastics material, are resistant to many pollutants.

Further, the polyvinylchloride plastics material preferred to be used is impermeable and resistant to many pollutants.

If further security is required, the piles 10 can be provided along side a further, for instance cement, barrier 34. In this case, a trench is dug, the piles 10 inserted as described above and the trench partially refilled by cement on the contaminated land side of the barrier. The cement may be one of those specialist cements known for such applications in the art, for instance a low alkali cement.

The highest level of security can be obtained by providing two pile barriers on either side of cement sandwiched between. In this case, after the trench has been dug two piling arrangements are provided spaced apart from and substantially parallel to one another in the trench. The gap between the two piling arrangements can then be filled by cement and the rest of the trench refilled as usual.

In such an application the waling will normally not be necessary because the earth (or cement) act to support the piling.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. A plastics piling.

2. A piling according to Claim 1, in which the piling is elongate.

3. A piling according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the piling comprises means for joining the piling to another piling.

4. A piling according to Claim 3, in which the joining means comprises a shaped part of the piling.

5. A piling according to Claim 4 in which the shaped part comprises a hook shaped strip.

6. A piling according to Claim 5, in which the strip is on the edge of the piling.

7. A piling according to Claim 5 or 6, in which the strip on one piling can cooperate with a strip on another piling to joint the pilings together.

8. Piling according to Claim 7, in which the pilings are substantially similar.

9. Piling according to Claim 7 or Claim 8, in which the join between the two pilings is substantially watertight.

10. Piling according to Claim 9, in which additional material is provided between the two strips to help seal the join.

11. Piling according to Claim 10, in which the additional material comprises a substance that expands upon contact with water.

12. Piling according to any preceding claim, in which the piling comprises an extruded length of plastics.

13. Piling according to any preceding claim, in which the plastics is water impermeable.

14. Piling according to Claim 13, in which the plastics is polyvinylchloride.

15. Piling according to any preceding Claim, in which the piling comprises means for joining the piling to two other pilings.

16. A piling arrangement comprising a plurality of elongate plastics pilings joined together, arranged, in use, to be located in a supporting surface.

17. A piling arrangement according to Claim 16, in which the arrangement additionally comprises a retaining bar arranged, in use, to be located on one side of the piles to be connected at intervals to a support on the other side of the piles.

18. A piling arrangement according to Claim 17, in which the retaining bar comprises a combination of metal and plastics with plastics being located on at least one outwardly facing surface of the metal.

19. A piling arrangement according to Claim 18, in which the plastics is arranged to be more than 3 mm thick.

20. A piling arrangement according to Claim 18, in which the plastics is arranged to be more than 10 mm thick and preferably in the region of 20 mm thick.

21. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 20, in which the outwardly facing surface which the plastics is located on is the surface arranged, in use, to be located adjacent to the piling.

22. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 20 in which the outwardly facing surface which the plastics is located on is the surface arranged to be that which is facing away from the piling, in use.

23. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 22 in which the plastics surrounds the metal.

24. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 23, in which the metal comprises a hollow section and the plastics is arranged to be located in the hollow section.

25. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 23, in which the metal comprises a hollow section and the plastics is arranged to fill the hollow portion.

26. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 18 to 25, in which the plastics includes an enlarged recess in which, in use, an enlarged portion of a connecting member that extends, in use, through the retaining bar and pile into a supporting surface is arranged to be located.

27. A piling arrangement according to Claim 26, in which an opening of less cross-sectional area than the recess extends through the plastics, or through the metal, or first through the plastics and then through the metal towards the side of the bar arranged, in use, to be located adjacent to the piling.,

28. A piling arrangement according to any one of Claims 17 to 27, in which at least one end of the bar includes a recess which, in use, enables adjacent bars to be connected to restrict relative transverse movement.

29. A piling arrangement according to Claim 28, in which the recess is arranged to extend adjacent to the metal.

30. A piling arrangement according to Claim 28, in which the recess is arranged to extend within a hollow section of metal.

31. A piling construction in which a plurality of elongate plastics piles are located in a supporting surface.

32. A piling construction according to Claim 31, in which a retaining bar is located on one side of the piles with the bar being connected at intervals to a support on the other side of the piles.

33. A piling construction according to Claim 32, in which the retaining bar comprises a combination of metal and plastics and with plastics being on at least one outwardly facing surface of the metal.

34. A kit of parts for use in a piling construction, the kit including a plurality of plastics piles arranged, in use, to be located in a supporting surface.

35. A method of constructing a piling arrangement, the method comprising the steps of: locating a first plastics piling in a supporting structure; and locating a further plastics piling alongside the first plastics piling.

36. A method according to Claim 35, in which the pilings are joined at their edges.

37. A method according to Claim 35 or Claim 36, in which the support structure is provided by the additional step of providing a filler material adjacent the piling arrangement.

38. A method according to Claim 37, in which the filler is alongside the piling arrangement.

39. A method according to any one of Claims 36 to 38, comprising the additional step of providing a further piling arrangement adjacent the filler material on the side of the filler material distant from the first piling arrangement whereby the filler material may be sandwiched between the two piling arrangements.

40. A piling substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 4 or 1 to 4, 5a and 6 to 7 or 1 to 4, 5b and 6 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.

41. A piling arrangement substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 4, 5a and 6 to 7 or 1 to 4, 5b and 6 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.

42. A piling construction substantially as described herewith with reference to Figures 1 to 4, 5a and 6 to 7 or 1 to 4, 5b and 6 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.

43. A kit of parts substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 4, 5a and 6 to 7 or 1 to 4, 5b and 6 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.

44. A method of constructing a piling arrangement substantially as described herein.