Claims:We claim:

1. A reinforcing geocell mattress, comprising,
a first set of bamboo strips formed by interconnecting a plurality of bamboo sticks orthogonally;
a first set of circular shaped vertical cells created by bending the first set of bamboo strips at 360 degree; wherein the first set of circular shaped vertical cells have at least partial overlap portion extending at least 50 mm and formed through a connection between the two ends of at least one bamboo strip from the first set of bamboo strip;
bitumen emulsion coated on the first set of circular shaped vertical cell; and
a plurality of plastic tie wires to interconnect the bitumen emulsion coated circular shaped vertical cells to form a honeycomb structure.

2. The reinforcing geocell mattress of claim 1, wherein the connection between the two ends of at least one bamboo strip from the first set of bamboo strip is in a form of stitching with a stiff thread between the two ends of the bamboo strip to achieve a fixed bonding.

3. The reinforcing geocell mattress of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bamboo sticks have at least10 mm width and 1 mm thickness.

4. A method of manufacturing a reinforcing geocell mattress, comprising the steps of:
receiving a plurality of sticks of material derived from bamboo;
interconnecting a plurality of sticks orthogonally to form a first set of bamboo strips;
bending the first set of bamboo strips at 360 degree to create a first set of circular shaped vertical cells; and connecting the two ends of each said bamboo strip to form an overlap portion having an extent of at least50 mm;
coating with a bitumen emulsion on the first set of circular shaped vertical cell; and
interconnecting the bitumen coated circular shaped vertical cells using a plurality of plastic tie wires and forming a honeycomb structure.

5. A method of producing a road surface, comprising the steps of :
obtaining a reinforcing geocell mattress in accordance with claim 1.
applying a separate layer over a first layer of said road surface; and
positioning the said reinforcing geocell mattress onto the separate layer of the road surface;
filling the said reinforcing geocell mattress with an in-fill material; and
applying a second layer over the reinforcing geocell mattress.

6. A road surface comprising:
a separate layer applied over a first layer of said road surface;
a reinforcing geocell mattress in accordance with claim 1, positioned onto the separate layer.
a second layer applied over the reinforcing geocell mattress.

7. The road surface of claim 6, wherein the first layer is a sand layer.

8. The road surface of claim 6, wherein the separate layer is a geotextile layer.

9. The road surface of claim 6, wherein the separate layer is a geotextile layer in combination with the bamboo grid.

10. The road surface of claim 6, wherein the in-fill material is a fly ash material.

11. The road surface of claim 6, wherein the second layer is a top cover layer comprising one or more layers of fly ash.

, Description:BITUMEN COATED BAMBOO GEOCELL MATTRESS

TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The present disclosure relates to a new type of geocell mattress consisting of many interconnected circular cells made of natural bamboo material, and more particularly related to a reinforcing geocell mattress and a method of manufacturing the same. The disclosure further relates to a road surface including such as a reinforcing geocell mattress and production method thereof.

BACKGROUND

[002] In recent years, reinforced soil has been widely used in geotechnical engineering applications such as construction of roads, railway embankments, retaining walls, stabilization of slopes. Soil reinforcement consists of a composite material called reinforced earth, a man-made material and it comprises of different layers. The main objective of soil reinforcement is to increase the stability, capacity and reduce settlements and lateral deformation. Many approaches have been developed to solve the soil problems and these approaches generally consideredeconomical ways to improve the conditions compared to traditional methods. Some of the approaches used the polymeric materials, called as geosyntheics. Geosynthetics have been successfully used in soil reinforcement. The geosynthetics are frequently used in construction in the form of geotextiles, geogrids, geomembranes, and geocells. Geogrids and geotextiles are generally two dimensional and offer the planar reinforcement structure.

[003] The geogrids and geotextiles provide only tensile membrane support and are unable to provide vertical and horizontal confinement to the in-fill material. The in-fill material cannot be reinforced entirely due to its planar structure. The most recent advancement of reinforced soil is to provide three-dimensional confinement to the soil by using geocells. Geocells provide tensile membrane support as well as confinement effect to the in-fill material. Conventional geocells are made of man-made products, for example polymers such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) may be used. These man-made products are not environmental friendly and are harmful to operatives in the field and require additional safety measures to be evolved during manufacturing and production.

SUMMARY

[004] A reinforcing geocell mattress and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed.

[005] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a reinforcing geocell mattress is disclosed. The reinforcing geocell mattress comprises a first set of bamboo strips formed by interconnecting a plurality of bamboo sticks orthogonally. A first set of circular shaped vertical cells may be created by bending the first set of bamboo strips at 360 degree. The circular shaped vertical cells may be having an overlap portion having an extent of at least 50 mm formed through a connection between the two ends of the bamboo strip. A bitumen emulsion may be coated on each circular shaped vertical cell. The reinforcing geocell mattress further may comprise a plurality of plastic tie wires to interconnect the bitumen coated circular shaped vertical cells to form a honeycomb structure.

[006] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of manufacturing a reinforcing geocell mattress is disclosed. The method may comprise of receiving a plurality of sticks of material derived from bamboo. The plurality of bamboo sticks having dimensions of at least 10 mm width and 1 mm thickness. Further, the plurality of bamboo sticks are interconnected orthogonally to form a first set of bamboo strips. By bending the first set of bamboo strips at 360 degree, it may create a first set of circular shaped vertical cells. The two ends of each said bamboo strip may be interconnected to form an overlap portion having an extent of at least50 mm and each said circular shaped vertical cell may be coated with a bitumen emulsion. The method further may comprise of interconnecting the bitumen coated circular shaped vertical cells using a plurality of plastic tie wires and forming a honeycomb structure.

[007] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of producing a road surface is disclosed. The method may comprise the steps of obtaining a reinforcing geocell mattress and applying a separate layer over a first layer of said road surface; positioning the said reinforcing geocell mattress onto the separate layer of the road surface; filling the said reinforcing geocell mattress with an in-fill material; and positioning the second layer over the reinforcing geocell mattress.

[008] In further aspect of the present disclosure, a road surface may comprise a separate layer applied over a first layer of said road surface, a reinforcing geocell mattress positioned onto the separate layer and a second layer applied over the reinforcing geocell mattress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[009] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures.

[0010] Figure 1, illustrates schematic diagram of a reinforcing geocell mattress in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0011] Figure 2a and Figure 2b, illustrate front view and top view of a reinforcing geocell mattress.

[0012] Figure 3, illustrates a bitumen coated bamboo made cellular mattress forming a honeycomb structure in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 4a - 4c, illustrate different views of a test tank used for performing the experimental investigations in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 5a - 5c, illustrate different views of a test tank used for performing the experimental investigations using a bitumen coated bamboo mattress along with a geotextile layer performed in a test tank.

[0015] Figure 6a - 6c, illustrate different views of a test tank used for performing the experimental investigations using a bitumen coated bamboo mattress filled with fly ash along with a geotextile layer performed in a test tank.

[0016] Figure 7, illustrates an experimental investigation using a bitumen coated bamboo mattress in combination with the bamboo grid and with the geotextile layer.

[0017] Figure 8, illustrates a flow chart describing a method of producing a reinforcing structure for a road surface in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] A reinforcing geocell mattress and method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. The geocell mattress comprises of a honeycomb structure consisting of interconnected three dimensional circular cells made of natural bamboo strips. With the use of bamboo material, the present disclosure provides cost effective, sustainable and energy saving method of manufacturing the geocell mattresses.

[0019] The present disclosure may use the bamboo materials in reinforcing a road or paved structure. Bamboos are used because of its easy availability and cost effective than the commercially available man-made products. Bamboos generally have high growth rate and are eco-friendly. Compared to conventional geogrids, the geocells proposed in the disclosure may use lesser amount of bamboos.

[0020] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a reinforcing geocell mattress in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The reinforcing geocell mattress 100 may comprise a first set of bamboo strips 101 formed by interconnecting bamboo sticks orthogonally. The bamboo sticks may be formed with the dimensions of 10 mm width and 1 mm thickness. It may be appreciated that the dimensions of the bamboo sticks may be varied depending on the design requirements. The first set of bamboo strips 101 may have same dimension or different dimension. A circular shaped vertical cell (tube) 102 may be created by bending each bamboo strip at 360 degree angle. Figure 2a and Figure 2b show the front view and top view of the reinforcing geocell mattress with the respective dimensions. The diameter and height of a circular shaped vertical cell 102 may be 150 mm and 75 mm respectively. The two ends of the bamboo strip may be connected to form an overlap portion (not shown) to have an extent of 50 mm. The overlapped portion may be stitched with a stiff thread to achieve a fixed bonding between the two ends of the bamboo strip. Because of this stitching, the two ends at the overlapped portion cannot be detached.

[0021] The reinforcing geocell mattress further may comprise a coated layer of bitumen emulsion (not shown) on each circular shaped vertical cell. This coating makes the cells more resistance to deterioration and provides the greater durability to the cells. The bitumen coated circular shaped vertical cells are three dimensional in structure. It may be appreciated that the height and diameter of the cell may be varied depending on the design requirements. Further, Figure 3 shows a bitumen coated bamboo made cellular mattress forming a honeycomb structure 300, plurality of plastic tie wires may be used to interconnect the bitumen coated circular cells to form a honeycomb structure (three dimensional) as the resultant structure of the geocell mattress. For example, in figure 3 a tie wire 303 is used to interconnect the bitumen coated circular cells 301 and 302. It may be appreciated that the height and width of the mattress may be varied depending on the requirements of the application.

[0022] In an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, a reinforcing geocell mattress (not shown) may comprise of a first set of bamboo strips and a second set of bamboo strips that may be formed by orthogonally interconnecting bamboo sticks. The bamboo sticks may be formed with the dimensions of at least10 mm width and 1 mm thickness. It may be appreciated that the dimensions of the bamboo sticks may be varied. The second set of bamboo strips may have same dimension or different dimension as the first set of bamboo strips. Circular shapes may be created by bending first set of bamboo strips and second set of bamboo strips at 360 degree angle. The diameter and height of circular shape may be at least150 mm and 75 mm respectively. The two ends of each bamboo strip may be connected to form an overlap portion to have an extent of 50mm. The overlapped portion may be stitched with a stiff thread to achieve a fixed bonding between the two ends of the bamboo strip. Because of this stitching, the two ends at the overlapped portion cannot be detached. A circular shaped vertical cell (tube) may be created by binding first set of bamboo strips and second set of bamboo strips.

[0023] The reinforcing geocell mattress further may comprise a coated layer of bitumen emulsion on each circular shaped vertical cell. This coating makes the cells more resistance to deterioration and provides the greater durability to the cells. With the first set of bamboo strips and second set of bamboo strips, the vertical cells may create a two layer structure consisting of first and second layer. In an embodiment, the first layer of vertical may comprise the first set of bamboo strips and second layer of vertical cell may comprise the second set of bamboo strips. The bitumen coated circular shaped vertical cells are three dimensional in structure. It may be appreciated that the height and diameter of the each vertical cell may be varied depending on the design requirements. Further, plastic tie wires may be used to interconnect the bitumen coated circular cells to form a honeycomb structure (three dimensional) as the resultant structure of the geocell mattress. It may be appreciated that the height and width of the mattress may be varied depending on the requirements of the application.

[0024] In an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a geotextile separator may be used in combination with the bamboo made cellular mattress suitable for use in reinforcing a road or paved structure. In a further aspect of the present disclosure, fly ash may be used as a sub base material for use in reinforcing the road structure and may be placed over low-bearing-strength soils. The fly ash is a coal combustion product and the inclusion of the fly ash in the reinforcement may provide additional environmental benefits. Highways and bridges made with fly ash reinforcement are more durable and need not to be repaired or replaced as often.

[0025] An analytical model may be developed based on an experimental investigation performed on such a road or paved structure. Figure 4a shows an example test tank 400 with a cuboid structure, may be used for the experimental investigations in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4b and Figure 4c show the front view and top view of the test tank with the internal dimension of 750 mm x 750 mm x 660 mm. The test tank may be fabricated out of 10 mm thick steel plates to resist any deformations. The inner surface may be initially scrubbed to remove any rust particle and may be painted to ensure a smooth surface to eliminate any additional stresses along the boundaries. Figure 5a shows the test tank 400 filled with sand 401 up to 200 mm in four layers of 50 mm, each layer compacted using a standard proctor hammer. A non-woven geotextile (not shown) may be used as a separate layer and applied over the sand layer 401, over the said separate layer a bitumen coated bamboo mattress 402 is placed. Figure 5b and Figure 5c show the front view and top view of the test tank 400 with the sand layer 401 and a bitumen coated bamboo mattress 402. Figure 6a shows the bitumen coated bamboo mattress 402 placed over the said separate layer and may be filled with fly ash 403. A top cover of 25 mm may be provided with the fly ash on the top of bamboo cell to prevent the damages to the cell walls during loading and also for uniform load distribution. Figure 6b and Figure 6c show the front view and top view of the test tank 400 with bitumen coated bamboo mattress 402 filled with the fly ash 403.

[0026] In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a geotextile separator and/or a bamboo made geogrid may be used in combination with the bitumen coated bamboo mattress suitable for use in reinforcing a road or paved structure. Figure 7 shows a test tank using the bitumen coated bamboo mattress along with the bamboo grid and the geotextile layer for the experimental investigations. As discussed to the previous embodiment, the experiments may use the test tank for investigating the reinforcement structure. The test tank 400 may be filled with sand 401 up to 200 mm. Bamboo grid reinforcement of size 405 750 mm x 750 mm may be placed over the sand. Then, the bitumen coated bamboo mattress 402 may be placed over the bamboo grid and filled with fly ash. A top cover of 25 mm may be provided with the fly ash on the top of bamboo cell.

[0027] Figure 8 shows a flow chart 800 describing a method of producing a road surface in accordance with the present disclosure. At step 801, the first layer of road surface is prepared. In an example, the first layer may be filled with the sand and may consist of several layers. In another example, the first layer may be an asphaltic or concrete layer used in case for reinforcement of a pavement structure. Further, a regulating layer or uniform bond coat may be applied on the first layer to prevent the damages. At step 802, a geotextile separator may be applied over the first layer of the road surface. In some embodiments, the geotextile separator may be used in combine with bamboo grid. One or more layers may be applied over the geotextile separator to protect it.

[0028] At step 803, the reinforcing geocell mattress may be positioned on the top of the separator layer. The geocell mattress comprises a first set of circular shaped vertical cells may be created by bending a first set of bamboo strips at 360 degree angle. The diameter and height of circular shaped vertical cell may be varied depending on the requirements. The two ends of the bamboo strip may be connected to form an overlap portion and the overlapped portion may be stitched with a stiff thread. The reinforcing geocell mattress further may comprise a bitumen emulsion that may be coated on each circular shaped vertical cell. Further, plastic tie wires may be used to interconnect the bitumen coated circular cells to form a honeycomb structure as the resultant structure of the geocell mattress. It may be appreciated that the height and width of the mattress may be varied depending on the requirements of the application.

[0029] At step 804, the reinforcing geocell mattress may be filled with an in-fill material. The in-fill material may be a fly ash material or sand material in combine with the fly ash. Further, at step 805, one or more layers may be applied over the reinforcing geocell mattress for binding or prevention from loading. In an example, top cover layer with fly ash may be formed on the top of the mattress to prevent the damages to the cell walls during loading and also for uniform load distribution.

[0030] Although the invention has been disclosed in the context of certain aspects and embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention extends beyond the specific embodiments to alternative embodiments and/or uses of the invention and obvious implementations and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the present invention disclosed herein should not be limited by the disclosed aspects and embodiments above.