Anchor and Method for Constructing Same

This invention relates to earth anchors and a method for constructing the same for use in supporting earth retaining walls consisting of sheet piles and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to land anchors and a method of construction in which a steel tension member, or members, sometimes referred to as reinforcing rods, are embedded in a hardenable material which forms an anchor body when hardened, with a pressure bearing plate secured to the interior end portions of the steel tension members.

In general, prior art earth anchors are embedded in earth bored holes to facilitate earth reinforcement and support in and around building and construction sites. However, it is often necessary to remove these anchors after they have served their purpose. The anchor bodies consisting of hardened material, such as mortar or concrete, may be readily broken, but steel reinforcing rods are quite difficult to sever and remove.

One solution to the reinforcing rod extraction problem is taught in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,924 wherein the anchor reinforcing rods are pre-coated with thermoplastic resin. When the rods are to be removed the thermoplastic resin is heated and fused by means of an electric heater. This fusion breaks the bond between the rods and the concrete thereby enabling the rods to be withdrawn from the body of the anchor with greater ease.

In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,892, there is disclosed an anchor which may be removed by preparing a plurality of reinforcing rods which have been bundled with bands. A friction-reducing agent such as grease is applied to the surfaces of some, but not all, of the reinforcing rods which may therefore be easily withdrawn. Withdrawal of the greased rods reduces the binding forces on the remaining reinforcing rods, enabling them also to be more readily withdrawn. However, with this prior art anchor, if a greater retaining wall supporting force is required, the length of the anchor must be increased because its maximum permissible load is a function of the linear bond between the reinforcing rods and the concrete anchor body.

In order to avoid the necessity of increasing the length of land anchors proportional to increased load, it has been proposed that a disc or supporting plate having a diameter smaller than the diameter of an earth bore is secured to the interior end portions of reinforcing rod members. With this arrangement the supporting plate will function to transfer load from the reinforcing rods to the anchor body thereby avoiding the problem of failure in shear between the rods and the anchor body.

However, it is exceedingly difficult if not a practical impossibility to remove the reinforcing rods from the anchor body because the supporting plate has been rigidly embedded in the anchor body.

It is accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide an earth anchor and a method of construction in which steel tension members securing a pressure bearing plate thereto may be readily removed from the body of an anchor after its intended use.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an earth anchor and a method for constructing same, in which steel tension members may be readily removed from the body of the anchor by maintaining steel tension members embedded in but unbonded to the anchor body.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an earth anchor and a method for constructing same, in which, during the service of an anchor, a pressure bearing plate is positively secured to the interior ends of steel tension members, so that a supporting force to be borne by the steel tension members may be transferred by the medium of the pressure bearing plate to a body of an anchor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an earth anchor in which steel tension members are secured to a pressure bearing plate by means of disengageable sleeves pressure fitted on the interior ends of the steel tension members.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an earth anchor in which the steel tension members are removable upon application of a force thereto in excess of the intended load bearing capability of the steel tension members.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an economical anchor, in which a plurality of pressure bearing plates are each secured to the respective interior end of a corresponding steel tension member to provide uniform transmission of a supporting load to an anchor body, while permitting withdrawal of each of said steel tension members with a force smaller than the total supporting force.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an anchor having a single pressure bearing plate secured to the interior ends of a plurality of steel tension members wherein the pressure bearing plate and each steel tension member may be disengaged from each other with a force less than the load bearing capacity of the anchor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an anchor, in which a sleeve is secured to a pressure bearing plate and is of sufficient length to positively retain the steel tension members running therethrough in predetermined spacial relationship with the body of the anchor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an anchor, in which a supporting force being transmitted from a pressure bearing plate may be positively received by a hardened material filled within a sleeve secured to the pressure bearing plate and thereafter to an anchor body.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an anchor wherein the supporting load is transmitted through the steel tension members to a single pressure bearing plate to which is secured a mortar filled sleeve which in turn receives and transmits the supporting load to the anchor body.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view in elevation of the anchor according to the present invention shown supporting an earth retaining wall;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the earth bore interior end of the anchor according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III--III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV--IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a steel tension member;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of the assembly of a pressure bearing plate, a steel tension member and a gripping sleeve;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of a part of another embodiment of the anchor according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IX--IX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X--X of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view of a part of still another embodiment of the anchor according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view of a part of yet another embodiment of the anchor according to the present invention; and,

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XIII--XIII of FIG. 12.

Referring to FIG. 1, a bore of a diameter of from four to six inches and a length of from ten to one hundred feet is prepared in a section of earth 1 by means well understood by those skilled in the art. A steel tension member 4, having a pressure bearing plate 3 secured to the bore interior end of the member 4, is inserted in the bore thus prepared. Thereafter, a hardenable material such as cement mortar, cement paste, concrete or the like is injected into the bore 2 to provide an anchor body 5 therein.

The exterior end of the steel tension member 4 protrudes beyond the bore 2 for connection with a fastening means 7 secured to the surface of an earth retaining wall 6.

As shown in FIG. 6, a preferred embodiment of the steel tension member 4 is provided in the form of a steel wire rope, which slidingly extends through a sheath 9. A lubricant, such as grease 8', is applied to the periphery of the wire so that the steel tension member 4 is maintained in bond-free condition relative to the anchor body 5. A pressure bearing plate 3, FIG. 7, is provided in the form of a circular steel plate or disc having its circumference provided with a plurality of cuts or notches, and having a diameter somewhat smaller than that of the bore 2. As shown in FIG. 7, the disc 3 is provided with a small hole 10, through which is inserted the steel tension member 4 retained in the sheath 9. The interior end portion of the steel tension member 4 is secured to a gripping sleeve 11 abutting the rear surface 3' of the pressure bearing plate 3.

As further shown in FIG. 7, the gripping sleeve 11 is fitted on the interior end portion of the steel tension member 4, with an interlocking coil 12 of triangular cross-section sandwiched in an annular space defined between the gripping sleeve 11 and the steel tension member 4, after which the gripping sleeve 11 is compressed into rigid engagement with steel tension member 4. In place of the interlocking coil 12, adhesives such as carborundum, or high strength synthetic resin, such as epoxy resin, may be used. The coil 12 is wound around the steel tension member 4, the gripping sleeve is then placed over the coil, and finally the gripping sleeve is compressed about the coil 12.

The gripping force of the gripping sleeve 11 is set to yield at approximately 85% of the yielding load of the steel tension member 4.

The maximum gripping yielding force may be varied by suitably selecting the lengths of the gripping sleeve 11 and interlocking coil 12. By way of example, assume an interlocking coil, having an equilateral triangular cross-section and a width of 1.1 mm, is wound 35 to 36 times around the periphery of the interior end portion of a steel strand wire having a diameter of 17.8 mm and a yield strength of 33600 kg/cm.sup.2, with a steel gripping sleeve 11 having an outer diameter of 40.0 mm, an inner diameter of 21.5 mm and a length of 32 mm compressed to an inner diameter of 15 mm and coupled with the aforesaid interlocking coil, then there may be obtained a maximum gripping force of 28000 to 29000 kg/cm.sup.2.

With the anchor as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of steel tension members 4 are so arranged that the respective interior ends of the steel members 4 are positioned at an equal spacing along the axis of the bore 2, with pressure bearing plates 3, 3a and 3b being secured to the respective aforesaid ends of the steel members 4 by means of the gripping sleeves 11 for rigid connection, sufficient to permit the respective pressure bearing plates 3, 3a and 3b to sustain the supporting forces transmitted from the steel tension members 4. See FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.

In addition, there is defined a hole 13, see FIG. 5, in pressure bearing plate 3b so as to allow the passage of the steel tension members 4 and corresponding sheaths 9 therethrough for connection with bearing plates 3 and 3a respectively.

Steel sleeves 14 having inner diameters approximately the same as the outer diameters of the respective pressure bearing plates 3, 3a and 3b are secured to the respective pressure bearing plates by means of a suitable fastening means such as bands 15. The steel sleeve 14 may be corrugated in contour so as to be rigidly encased within the surrounding hardenable material. The sleeve 14 reinforces the anchor body 5 to withstand the forces being transmitted from the pressure bearing plate 3.

In the anchor shown in FIG. 8, a single pressure bearing plate 16 is secured to the respective interior ends of a plurality of steel tension members 4, with the aid of gripping sleeves 11. In addition, a steel sleeve 17 approximately 6 to 13 feet long is secured to the peripheries of the pressure bearing plates 16, 19 and 19a in surrounding relation thereto. The sleeve 17 is formed with a corrugated periphery and which is provided with inlets 18, through which a hardenable material makes ingress into the sleeve 17. In addition, at least one pressure bearing plate 19a is secured to the steel tension members outboard of the pressure bearing plate 16 at a given spacing one from another. In this respect, the steel tension member 4, as well as sheaths 9, may be inserted through holes 20 defined in the pressure bearing plate or plates 19a.

Accordingly, when the steel tension members 4 are inserted into the bore 2, the members 4 may be supported by the pressure bearing plates 19 and 19a so as to extend therethrough without permitting bending.

With an anchor as shown in FIG. 11, a single pressure bearing plate 22 is integrally secured to the respective interior ends of a plurality of steel tension members 4 with the aid of gripping sleeves 11. In addition, high strength mortar 24 such as resin mortar, fiber concrete or the like is filled within a sleeve 23 having a corrugated periphery and secured to the pressure bearing plate 22. The high strength mortar 24 may be prefilled and hardened within the sleeve 23 before being inserted into the bore 2. Thus, the sleeve 23 may be molded in a plant so as to provide prefabricated through-holes therein for receiving steel tension members 4 as well as sheaths 9. The sleeve is then transported to a construction site for insertion of steel tension members 4 through the aforesaid through-holes. The pressure bearing plates are then secured to the members 4 with the aid of the gripping sleeves 11. A plug 25 is formed by causing expansion of grout after the steel tension members 4 have been inserted into the bore 2, the aforesaid grout being charged through an injection pipe 26 into the bore 2. Thus, the plug 25 may partition or close the bore 2, while a hardenable material may be injected under pressure through an injection pipe 27 into the bore 2.

FIG. 12 shows supporting members 30 in the form of rods, providing a high pressure resisting strength. The supporting members 30 may be provided in the form of an irregular-shaped reinforcing steel rod and secured to the pressure bearing plate in a manner to extend away from the pressure bearing plate toward the entrance to the bore.

When the anchor thus described is no longer required, and the steel tension members 4 are to be removed, the outboard or exterior ends of the steel tension members 4 are pulled by means of a jack with a tension greater than the maximum retaining force of the gripping sleeves 11 to release the steel tension members from their sleeves. Then, the steel tension members 4 may then be withdrawn from the gripping sleeves 11, through sheaths 9. The steel tension members 4 thus withdrawn may be reused. Although the anchor body 5, pressure bearing plates 3, 16, 22 and sleeves 14, 17, 23 are normally abandoned within the bore, they may be readily broken or retrieved at a more convenient time.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention are presented hereinfor illustrative purposes only and are not intended to unduly limit the scope of the invention.