Talus coating

Abstract

 A talus coating for a dike or a similar embankment protection comprising blocks of concrete or a similar material (1), the interstices between the blocks being filled out with granular material whereby the blocks have a quadrangular section, two adjoining side faces of the blocks being substantially flat and the other two adjoining side faces having each several recesses (6) extending throughout the height of the blocks, the depth of a recess gradually increasing from the edges towards the middle of the recess, whilst the blocks are disposed in the coating in a manner such that a side face of a block having a recess is in contact with a flat side face of a neighbouring block.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a talus coating for a dike or a similar embankment protection comprising blocks of concrete or a similar material, the interstices between the blocks being filled out with granular material.

[0002] Such talus coatings used to protect dike bodies and the like are exposed to heavy loads due to the movements of waves and/or water. For many decades it has been common practice to make such talus coatings by using so-called basaltic columns of natural stone, each column having a cross- sectional area differing from that of a further column. From Dutch Patent Application 7503285 there is furthermore known a proposal to replace these basaltic columns by concrete columns. When disposing such columns side by side a very capricious pattern of the joints between the columns is obtained and the joints are filled out with granular material. Such talus coatings have been satisfactory, but the manufacture of a talus coating by using such columns has still to be carried out substantially completely by hand, which requires much skill and is particularly expensive.

[0003] There have been made proposals (French Patent 2,486,567) to use square- or rectangular-section blocks of concrete or similar material to obtain a talus coating, the blocks being disposed firmly side by side as far as possible without the interposition of any material. In practice, however, it has been found that such a talus coating cannot withstand the forces exerted thereon by the water, since in many cases the blocks are drawn out of such a coating or pressed out by the pressure of the water.

[0004] German Patent Application 2,433031 furthermore discloses a talus coating comprising concrete stone, in which the lower rows of stones most heavily loaded by wave movements and the like have been provided with ridges and grooves for disposing them.side by side as intimately as possible in order to obtain a continuous surface. Like in the construction of the aforesaid French Patent it is exactly such blocks contacting one another which are drawn out of the talus coating in the course of time by the pressure of the water in the dike body, the wave movements and the like.

[0005] According-to said German Patent Application 2,433,031 the higher part of the.talus coating is built up from square-section blocks having a rectangular-section, protruding nose on two adjoining:side faces near the middle of each of these faces. These blocks are disposed in the talus coating in a manner such that the noses of a block are in contact with flat side faces of other blocks. Thus.large, open rectangular holes are formed to allow water to pass. Hovever, a satisfactory unity of these blocks is not obtained so that when this higher part of the talus coating is loaded by waves, damage of this higher part of the talus coating will be unavoidable. Moreover, through the rectangular holes washing out of the dike body located below the talus coating will soon take place. In order to avoid this German: Patent Application proposes, it is true, to arrange a foil below the talus coating, but apart from the cost-increasing effect such a foil may be readily damaged in the areas of the large, rectangular, open holes between the blocks. Filling out these holes with granular material will be useless, since this material will soon be washed away.

[0006] A further disadvantage of the talus coating known from German Patent Application D.O.S. 2,433,031 is that also in this case blocks of different shapes have to be employed.

[0007] According to the invention the blocks have a quadrangular sectional area, whilst two adjoining side faces of the blocks are substantially flat and the two other adjoining side faces are each provided with several recesses extending throughout the height of the blocks, the depth of a recess gradually increasing from the edge towards the middle of the recess, whilst the blocks are disposed in the talus coating in a manner such that a side face having recesses is in contact with a flat side face of an adjacent block.

[0008] When using a talus coating embodying the invention blocks of . identical shape can be employed, which blocks can be readily manufactured, whilst when disposing the blocks side by side in the talus coating with the aid of conventional mechanical means, interstices are automatically formed between the blocks which can be filled out with granular material. Owing to the design of the recesses this granular material can effectively settle between the blocks so that a satisfactory relative anchoring of the blocks is obtained, whilst adequate permeability for water is ensured without the talus or the substrate being washed away.

[0009] The. invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying Figures.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a block to be used in a talus coating in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a block to be used in the talus coating embodying the invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of part of a talus coating embodying the invention.

[0010] The block 1 of concrete or a similar material shown in Figs. 1 . and 2 has an at least substantially square or rectangular cross-section and has two flat side faces 2 and 3 and two scalloped side faces 4 and 5, said side faces having recesses 6, the depth of which gradually increases from the edges to the inside. The-design is such, as will be particularly apparent from Fig. 2, that the outermost boundary lines of the outenmost recesses 6 are located in a scalloped side face 4 and 5 respectively at the corners of the rectangular section of the block.

[0011] The design of the recesses may be the same for all recesses, but the width and/or the depth of the various recesses may be chosen differently.

[0012] Instead of choosing a square or rectangular section, for example, a rhombic section-may be chosen for the quadrangular block.

[0013] The sectional area of the block may be the same throughout the height, but as an alternative a block may be slightly tapering.

[0014] As is shown in Fig. 3, the blocks are disposed to form a talus coating on the surface of a dike body or the like to be protected by the coating in a manner such that the scalloped side faces 4 and 5 of one block are in contact with flat side faces 2 or 3 of the adjacent blocks. Owing to the presence of the recesses 6 interstices are formed between the blocks, which are filled with granular material, so-called split. The particles of this granular material or split have different sizes and owing to the chosen shape of the recesses 6 with gradually varying depth said particles can satisfactorily fix in the cavities between the blocks. In practice it has been found that a talus coating made from such readily manufacturable blocks constitutes a very firm structure which can resist heavy forces produced by the water. Furthermore owing to the simple sectional shape of the blocks and owing to the fact that all blocks to be used have the same sectional area the conventional mechanical devices can be employed for disposing the blocks, for example, stone pincers and the like so that the disposition of the talus coating can also be performed in a simple and rapid manner. Owing to the design chosen and the disposition of the blocks scalloped side faces of neighbouring blocks cannot come into contact with one another so that an irregular structure of the talus coating due to the interengagement of scalloped surfaces of neighbouring blocks is avoided.

[0015] By using the blocks a talus coating can be made for a dike forming a bend, since the relative arrangement of the blocks desired can be maintained. The joints between neighbouring blocks extending transversely of the direction of length of the dike body will slightly shift relatively to one another in successive rows, but in order to prevent such joints from registering with one another fillers having locally different dimensions may be arranged between the blocks or fillers having locally different dimensions may be poured between the blocks.

[0016] Furthermore, the blocks may have any desired transverse dimension and by the aforesaid possibility of varying the width and depth of the recesses 6 the size of the spaces between the blocks to be filled with granular material can be varied.

[0017] The shape of the top surface of the block may have any desired form to influence the movement of waves across the blocks and/or to facilitate walking on the talus coating as is also the case with other known blocks for a talus coating.

[0018] The figures used in the claims areonly meant to explain more clearly the intention of the invention and are not supposed to be any.restriction concerning the interpretation of the invention.

Claims

1. A talus coating for a dike or a similar embankment protection comprising blocks of concrete or a similar material, the interstices between the blocks being.filled out with granular material characterized in that the blocks have a quadrangular section, two adjoining side faces of the blocks being substantially flat and the two other adjoining side faces having each several recesses extending throughout the height of the blocks, the depth of a recess gradually increasing from the edges towards the middle of the recess, whilst the blocks are disposed in the coating in a manner such that a side face of a block having a recess is in contact with a flat side face of a neighbouring block.

2. A talus coating as claimed in Claim 1 characterized in that in a sectional view the recesses are bounded by wave-shaped lines.

3. A talus coating as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the recesses in a block have different widths and/or depths.

4. A talus coating as claimed in anyone of the preceding Claims characterized in that the recesses are arranged so that the outermost boundary lines of the outermost recesses of a side face are located in the corners of the quadrangle.

5. A talus coating as claimed in anyone of the preceding Claims characterized in that, viewed in a direction of height, a block has a gradually decreasing cross-section area.

6. A block apparently intended for use in a talus coating as claimed in anyone of the preceding Claims.

Drawing