초록 ▼

The invention relates to apparatus and methods and kits for constructing walls such as diaphragm walls comprising one or more panels and walls so constructed. In particular the invention relates to apparatus, methods and diaphragm walls having a guideway along a height of a first wall of a pane). Mo

The invention relates to apparatus and methods and kits for constructing walls such as diaphragm walls comprising one or more panels and walls so constructed. In particular the invention relates to apparatus, methods and diaphragm walls having a guideway along a height of a first wall of a pane). More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for constructing a diaphragm wall comprising: a guideway tube along a height of a first wall of a first concrete panel; a sacrificial wall element in the guideway tube that extends along the tube and about a portion of a periphery of the tube; a cutting mechanism for cutting along the height of a first wall of the first concrete panel, the cutting mechanism being arranged to cut along the height of the wall of the first concrete panel and along the sacrificial wall element of the guideway tube so as to cut away at least part of the sacrificial wall element of the guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall. The invention further relates to a comprising: casting a guideway tube into a first concrete panel along a height of a first wall of the panel; cutting along the height of the first wall of the panel; cutting along at least part of the length of the sacrificial wall element of the guideway tube; pouring a second concrete panel, including pouring concrete into the cutaway guideway tube. The invention further provides a diaphragm wall comprising at least two or a series of concrete panels adjoining one another.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An apparatus for constructing a wall comprising: at least one guideway tube along a height of a first wall of a first concrete panel and in which the at least one guideway tube is hollow, wherein the at least one guideway tube comprises a sacrificial wall element that extends along the at least o

1. An apparatus for constructing a wall comprising: at least one guideway tube along a height of a first wall of a first concrete panel and in which the at least one guideway tube is hollow, wherein the at least one guideway tube comprises a sacrificial wall element that extends along the at least one guideway tube and about at least a portion of a periphery of the at least one guideway tube; andat least one cutting mechanism configured to cut along the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel, the at least one cutting mechanism being arranged to cut along the height of the wall of the first concrete panel and along the sacrificial wall element of the at least one guideway tube so as to cut at least part of the sacrificial wall element of the at least one guideway tube to form an aperture in the at least one guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall to allow ingress of concrete into the at least one guideway tube. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 comprising the cutting mechanism being arranged so as to cut away at least part of the first wall of the concrete panel across at least part of a width of the first wall and along at least part of the height of the first wall and so as to cut at least part of the sacrificial wall element of the guideway tube to form the aperture in the at least one guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which at least one of the at least one cutting mechanism is driven. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which the cutting mechanism comprises a first cutting element configured to cut the concrete along the height of the wall of the first concrete panel and a second cutting element configured to cut the sacrificial wall element along the sacrificial wall element of the at least one guideway tube so as to cut at least part of the sacrificial wall element of the at least one guideway tube to form the aperture in the at least one guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall to allow ingress of concrete into the at least one guideway. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4 in which the first cutting element is driven and the second cutting element is driven or passive. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5 in which the first cutting element comprises at least one of a milling wheel and bullet teeth and the second cutting element comprises one of at least one a saw blade having saw blade teeth and at least one freely rotatable cutting wheel, or the first cutting element comprises a drill and the second cutting element comprises at least one freely rotatable cutting wheel. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which the guideway tube comprises at least one of: a first tube comprising a pipe having an aperture along its length; and sacrificial material closing the aperture to form the sacrificial wall element,a second tube of sacrificial material, ora pipe of sacrificial material. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which the at least one guideway tube comprises: at least one of a series of discrete first tube portions spaced along at least part of the height of the first wall, and a series of brackets spaced along at least part of the height of the first wall;and said apparatus further comprises:a second tube of sacrificial material along the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel and the discrete tube portions, or the brackets, spaced along the second tube of sacrificial material. 9. The apparatus according to claim 8 in which the first tube and the second tube are provided and the second tube substantially surrounds, or is surrounded by, the first tube. 10. The apparatus according to claim 9 in which a portion of, or substantially the whole of, the periphery of an innermost surface of the outermost tube is contiguous with a portion of, or substantially the whole of, the periphery of an outermost surface of the innermost tube, and in which the contiguous portions of the innermost and outmost tubes form a seal to substantially prevent ingress of concrete during pouring of concrete for the second panel. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the cutting mechanism comprises at least one guide configured to engage with at least one of the at least one guideway tubes so as to guide the cutting mechanism as it cuts along the first wall and along the sacrificial element and in which the cutting mechanism comprises at least one of the at least one guide configured to be anchored in the guideway tube so as to resist lateral movement of the cutting mechanism away from the wall during cutting. 12. The apparatus according to claim 11 in which at least two guides are provided and are configured to engage with one or more guideway tubes and at least two of the at least two guides are spaced in an arrangement comprising at least one of lateral or horizontal spacing from one another. 13. The apparatus according to claim 11 in which the angular extent of the sacrificial wall element about a portion of the periphery of at least one of the at least one guideway tubes is selected so as to enable a remaining portion of the at least one guideway tube, after at least a portion of the sacrificial wall element is cut, to anchor the at least one guide and cutting mechanism to the at least one guideway tube and to resist lateral motion of the cutting mechanism away from the first side wall of the first panel. 14. The apparatus according to claim 1 comprising at least one protruding key element configured to interengage with the at least one guideway tube so as to connect the first and second panels together, and in which the at least one protruding key element and the at least one guideway tube form a tension joint between the first and a second concrete panel, the at least one protruding key element configured to be at least one of sized or shaped with respect to the at least one guideway tube to form an anchor to resist lateral extraction from the at least one guideway tube. 15. The apparatus according to claim 14 comprising a first reinforcement cage having at least one of the at least one guideway tubes attached to the first reinforcement cage and a second reinforcement cage having the at least one protruding key element attached to the second reinforcement cage. 16. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a supplementary tube of sacrificial material; anda water impeding element is located in the supplementary tube and extends into a second trench for providing a water bar between the first concrete panel and a second concrete panel. 17. A kit for use with the apparatus of claim 1 comprising one or more of: at least one protruding key element configured to engage with a guideway tube; the at least one protruding key element configured to form an anchor to resist extraction from the guideway tube so as to form a tension joint;at least one guideway tube comprising a sacrificial wall element;at least one guideway tube comprising a first tube comprising a pipe having an aperture along at least part of a length of the pipe;at least one guideway tube comprising discrete first tube portions;at least one second tube having a sacrificial wall element;at least one guideway tube comprising a pipe of sacrificial wall material;a series of brackets for a pipe of sacrificial material;a water impeding element joint comprising a supplementary tube of sacrificial material; ora water impeding element. 18. A method of constructing a diaphragm wall comprising: a) casting at least one guideway tube comprising a sacrificial wall element that extends along the at least one guideway tube and about at least a portion of a periphery of the at least one guideway tube into a first concrete panel along a height of a first wall of the first concrete panel, wherein the guideway tube is hollow;b) cutting along the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel;c) cutting along at least part of the length of the sacrificial wall element of at least one of the at least one guideway tube and forming an aperture in at least one of the at least one guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall; andd) pouring a second concrete panel, so that concrete enters into the at least one of the at least one guideway tube via the aperture. 19. A The method according to claim 18 comprising cutting at least part of the first wall of the first concrete panel across at least part of the width of the concrete panel along at least part of the height of the first wall and cutting at least part of a the sacrificial wall element of at least one of the at least one guideway tube to form the aperture in the at least one guideway tube along at least part of the height of the first wall. 20. A The method according to claim 18 in which at least one of the following occurs: step (b) and (c) occur substantially at the same time;step (b) and (c) occur through the same cutting mechanism; orstep (b) and (c) occur through the same cutting action. 21. A The method according to claim 18 comprising forming a tension joint by providing a protruding key element in a second panel configured to engage with the at least one of the at least one guideway tubes cast in the first panel via the aperture. 22. A wall formed using the apparatus of claim 1, comprising at least two or a series of concrete panels adjoining one another, the concrete panels comprising: at least one guideway tube comprising a sacrificial wall element, the at least one guideway tube cast in concrete along a height of a first wall of a first concrete panel, and wherein the at least one guideway tube is hollow;a cut of a first concrete panel forming a cut end face along the height of the first concrete panel; anda cut of at least part of the sacrificial wall element of at least one of the at least one guideway tubes forming an aperture into at least one of the at least one guideway tubes along at least part of the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel;a joint integral with a second concrete panel formed from concrete wholly or partially filling the at least one guideway tube of the first concrete panel via the aperture upon pouring of concrete to form the second concrete panel. 23. The wall according to claim 22 comprising the cut end face of at least part of the first wall of the first concrete panel across at least part of the width and along at least part of the height of the first concrete panel, and the cut of at least part of the sacrificial wall element of the first guideway tube, along at least part of the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel. 24. The wall according to claim 22 comprising at least one protruding key element for interengaging with the guideway tube so as to connect first and second panels together and in which the at least one protruding key element and the guideway tube form a tension joint. 25. The wall according to claim 24 comprising a first reinforcement cage having the guideway tube attached to the first reinforcement cage and a second reinforcement cage having the at least one protruding key element attached to the second reinforcement cage. 26. The wall according to claim 22 in which two or more laterally separated guideway tubes are provided along the height of the first wall of the first concrete panel. 27. A kit for use in a diaphragm wall of claim 22 comprising one or more of: at least one protruding key element configured to engage with a guideway tube; the at least one protruding key element configured to form an anchor to resist extraction from the guideway tube so as to form a tension joint;at least one guideway tube comprising a sacrificial wall element at least one guideway tube comprising a first tube comprising a pipe having an aperture along at least part of a length of the pipe;at least one guideway tube comprising discrete first tube portions;at least one second tube having a sacrificial wall element;at least one guideway tube comprising a pipe of sacrificial wall material;a series of brackets for a pipe of sacrificial material;a water impeding element joint comprising a supplementary tube of sacrificial material; ora water impeding element.