초록 ▼

A revetment block for reducing the energy of water flowing over a levee. The revetment blocks each have a tapered top surface that tapers upwardly from a downstream end of the block to an upstream end of the block. The upwardly tapered top surface terminates in an abrupt downward transition edge. Wh

A revetment block for reducing the energy of water flowing over a levee. The revetment blocks each have a tapered top surface that tapers upwardly from a downstream end of the block to an upstream end of the block. The upwardly tapered top surface terminates in an abrupt downward transition edge. When plural tapered top blocks are installed together in a mat on a surface of the levee, the oncoming water surge encounters the many abrupt transition edges and reduces the energy of the water surge. The tapered top revetment blocks can be installed on the water side of the levee, or on the land side of the levee, or both sides.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of controlling water flow over a levee having a water side and a land side, a top of the levee defining an upstream location and a lower elevation of the land side defining a downstream location, whereby water flows down the levee on the land side thereof from the upstream location to th

1. A method of controlling water flow over a levee having a water side and a land side, a top of the levee defining an upstream location and a lower elevation of the land side defining a downstream location, whereby water flows down the levee on the land side thereof from the upstream location to the downstream location, said method comprising: lining the land side of the levee with a mat of revetment blocks, each said revetment block of said mat is identically constructed, and each said revetment block of said mat has an upstream frontal edge into which the water flowing down the levee on the land side abuts to thereby reduce the energy of the water, and each said revetment block of the mat has an upstream end thickness, as measured from a top surface of the revetment block to a bottom surface, that is thicker than a thickness of a downstream end of such revetment block, whereby each said revetment block of the mat has a tapered top surface which tapers downwardly with respect to a bottom surface thereof from an upstream end thereof to a downstream end;situating the revetment blocks of said mat on the land side of the levee so that the respective upstream frontal edge of each said revetment block of said mat extends vertically above a downstream end of a respective similarly-constructed immediately adjacent upstream neighbor revetment block of the mat, thereby reducing the energy of the water flowing over the levee from the top of the levee to the lower elevation of the land side of the levee; andlining the water side of the levee with the revetment blocks that are rotated 180 degrees as compared to the revetment blocks lining the land side of the levee. 2. The method of claim 1, further including interlocking each said revetment block of the mat using positive interlocking arms and positive interlocking sockets, whereby interlocked neighbor revetment blocks cannot be laterally removed from each other. 3. The method of claim 1, further including using a revetment block having a tapered top surface that tapers downwardly from a transition edge of a body of said block toward an opposite end of said revetment block, and using an interlocking member of said revetment block that tapers downwardly toward said transition edge. 4. The method of claim 3, further including using an interlocking arm as said interlocking member. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said mat defines a first mat of said revetment blocks, and further including lining a portion of a level elevation of a ground surface of the land side of the levee with a second mat of the revetment blocks so that after the water flows downhill on the land side of the levee the water flows over said second mat of said revetment blocks lining the level elevation to thereby continue reducing the velocity of the water flowing thereover. 6. The method of claim 1, further including lining a crest of the levee with the revetment blocks so that the energy of the water flowing over the crest is reduced. 7. The method of claim 1, further including using an interface block to provide an interface to the interlocking arms or sockets of the revetment blocks and the rotated revetment blocks. 8. The method of claim 7, further including installing the interface blocks on a crest of the levee. 9. The method of claim 1, further including lining the water side of the levee with revetment blocks that each include two sloped surfaces and two corresponding transition edges so that the energy of the water flowing uphill on the water side of the levee is slowed down and the water flowing back down the water side of the levee is again slowed down. 10. A method of controlling water flow over a levee having a crest located between a water side of the levee and a land side of the levee, comprising: installing a first mat of revetment blocks on the land side of the levee from the crest of the levee to a downhill portion of the levee;using said revetment blocks of the type where each said revetment block has interlocking male and female members for interlocking with similarly-constructed immediately adjacent revetment blocks, and engaging said male and female interlocking members to prevent lateral separation of neighbor revetment blocks, and using said revetment blocks where both the interlocking members extend from a bottom surface of each said revetment block to a tapered top surface thereof;using said revetment blocks of the type having said tapered top surface tapering upwardly from a downstream end to an upstream end, said tapered top revetment blocks each having a thicker end with a given thickness as measured from a top surface of said revetment block to a bottom surface of said revetment block, and said tapered top revetment block having a thinner end opposite said thicker end, said thinner end having a thickness as measured from the top surface of said revetment block to the bottom surface thereof;installing the tapered top revetment blocks so that the thicker end of each said revetment block is laid uphill on the downhill portion of the land side of the levee and the thinner end of each said revetment block is laid downhill on the downhill portion of the land side of the levee, so that a vertical transition edge is formed between neighbor revetment blocks;using the transition edges of the revetment bocks to reduce the energy of the water flowing over the crest of the levee and down the land side thereof; andlining the water side of the levee with the revetment blocks that are rotated 180 degrees as compared to an orientation of the revetment blocks on the land side of the levee. 11. The method of claim 10, further including installing the blocks so that positive interlocking arms of each block of said revetment blocks interlock with positive interlocking sockets of respective neighbor blocks, said positive interlocking arms and sockets preventing lateral separation of the neighbor blocks. 12. The method of claim 10, further including using interface revetment blocks between a row of the revetment blocks and a row of the rotated revetment blocks, and constructing each said interface revetment block with a different number of arms than the revetment blocks lining the land side of the levee, each said revetment block and each said rotated revetment block and each said interface revetment block having at least one said arm. 13. A method of controlling water flow over a levee having a crest located between a water side and a land side, comprising: using a first set and a second set of tapered top revetment blocks, each said first and second set of revetment blocks having respective top surfaces that are tapered with respect to respective bottom surfaces thereof, where the tapered top surface of each said revetment block of said first set and said second set terminate in an abrupt downward transition edge;installing the first set of tapered top revetment blocks on the water side of the levee so that water returning downhill on the water side of the levee encounters the abrupt downward transition edges of said first set of tapered top revetment blocks and slows down the downhill flowing water; andinstalling the second set of tapered top revetment blocks on the land side of the levee so that water flowing over the crest and downhill on the land side of the levee encounters the abrupt downward transition edges of said second set of tapered top revetment blocks and slows down the water flowing downhill on the land side of the levee. 14. The method of claim 13, further including installing a row of interface blocks to interface the first set of tapered top revetment blocks on the water side of the levee to the second set of tapered top revetment blocks on the land side of the levee, and further including using interface blocks where each said interface block is constructed with a different number of arms as compared to the number of arms of each revetment block of the first set of tapered top revetment blocks, and each said interface block and each said revetment block of the first set of tapered revetment blocks having at least one said arm.