GB2263522A

GB2263522A - Drainage pipe

Info

Publication number: GB2263522A
Application number: GB9201818A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Vitkovitch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-01-25
Filing date: 1992-01-25
Publication date: 1993-07-28
Also published as: GB9201818D0

Abstract

A drainage pipe (10) having a main wall (11) defining an interior main fluid passageway (12) to which a channel formation (13) is located on the exterior of the main wall (11). The sides of the channel formation (13) are defined by a pair of sidewalls (14) and the bottom of the channel formation is defined by a portion of the main wall (11a). The sidewalls may be fixedly secured to the main wall either by fastening means such as rivets, or formed integrally as part of the pipe by for example co-extruding the sidewalls and main wall. Port means (15) are located in the bottom of the channel for the purpose of transferring water from a geotextile strip (22, Fig 2) in the channel and into the passageway (12). The port means preferably comprises a continuous elongate slot being the majority of the length of the channel but shorter than the connecting end of the geotextile product. The channel may comprise converging lips 55 to reduce blockage from land deposits. <IMAGE>

Description

Drainage Pipe The invention relates to a drainage pipe in particular a drainage pipe to which a geotextile product can be directly connected.

Recent development in ground drainage is through the use of geotextile products. The geotextile product is usually of strip like form and comprises a fabric of tubular and generally elongate form surrounding, and mounted on, a flexible support structure, such as a moulded plastics sheet, to define a fluid passageway. The fabric is pervious to water so that water can enter the passageway and flow to drain.

Two common uses of geotextile products for the drainage of water are known. One use is in the drainage of water from earth surrounding a tunnel in which a number of geotextile strips are wrapped side by side circumferentially around the exterior surface of the tunnel. Both ends of each geotextile strip connect into respective drain pipes by means of a funnel and T connector. This type of connection of the strip to the drain pipe is undesirable as it tends to be expensive and time consuming in fitting when many are needed to cover the whole length of the tunnel Another use of the geotextile product is with land drainage in which a strip of geotextile product is laid on its side along a trench with a collector being situated at one end of the strip.Should a blockage occur in the strip there is no means of rodding the system out and so if a blockage does occur then drainage is no longer possible through the length of strip which is upstream of the blockage.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a pipe having a main wall defining an interior main fluid passageway and at least one channel formation extending longitudinally along the exterior of said wall, each channel formation communicating with the main fluid passageway by means of a fluid port means in said wall. Preferably the port means comprises one or more apertures formed in the main wall; the aperture may be in the form of an elongate slot or a series of holes formed in the main wall. The slot or series of holes may be covered with a filter screen.

Preferably the channel is open ended and has opposed sidewalls spaced apart so as to grip a geotextile product inserted into the channel. Advantageously the sidewalls may be shaped to provide a relatively wide channel mouth to facilitate insertion of the geotextile product. Preferably the sidewalls are curved or curvilinear and may be fixedly secured to said main wall by fixing means or may be integral therewith. Several channel formations may be provided spaced about the circumference of the main wall to enable more than one geotextile product to drain into the pipe.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a land drainage system comprising one or more pipes as defined above and one or more geotextile products connected thereto.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a land drainage system for draining water from the surface of a bed, the system comprising one or more pipes as defined above embedded in the bed with the channel formation communicating with said surface-to enable water to drain from the surface and enter the pipe via the channel formation.

Various aspects of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a drainage pipe according to one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates a geotextile product connected to a drainage pipe as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a front view of Figure 2.

Figure 4 shows a side view of the drainage pipe.

Figure 5 shows the pipe of Figure 1 embedded in a bed for surface drainage.

Figure 6 shows the geotextile product and drainage pipe used in a trench for land drainage.

With reference to figure 1 shows in perspective, a drainage pipe (10) according to one embodiment of the invention The pipe (10) comprises a main wall (11) defining an interior main fluid passageway (12). A channel formation (13) is located on the exterior of the main wall (11). The sides of the channel formation (13) are defined by a pair of sidewalls (14) and the bottom of the channel formation is defined by a portion of the main wall (lla). The sidewalls may be fixedly secured to the main wall either by fastening means such as rivets, or formed integrally as part of the pipe by for example co-extruding the sidewalls and main wall. Port means (15) are located in the bottom of the channel for the purpose of transferring water from the channel into the passageway (12).The port means shown preferably comprises a continuous elongate slot subsequently formed by for example a machining process and preferably being the majority of the length of the channel but shorter than the connecting end of the geotextile. In this way the geotextile produce completely covers the port means to prevent ingress of silt or particulate matter. Preferably the pipe is produced in sections of determined length and the channel formation is located inboard of the ends to leave pipe portions z for connection with adjacent pipe ends. With reference to Figure 2 showing the geotextile product (21) inserted end wise into the drainage pipe, the geotextile product (21) comprises a fabric (22) of tubular and generally elongate form surrounding, and mounted on, a flexible central support structure (23) of thickness y defined by ridges or projections (24).The distance x between the two sidewalls of the drainage pipe is less than the distance y the thickness of the geotextile product so causing a press fit when the geotextile product is introduced into the channel. Preferably the sidewalls are resiliently deflectable and continuously curvilinear to facilitate entry of the geotextile, and to provide a means of resiliently gripping the geotextile product.

Figure 5 shows a drainage pipe (52) according to another embodiment of the invention used in surface drainage achieved by embedding the drainage pipe (52) so that the channel mouth (53) communicates with the surface of a bed (54), for example a concrete surface covering. The pipe is preferably embedded into the bed so that the channel is flush with the surface of the ground and left clear to receive water flowing from the surface of the bed.

Figure 5 shows a modification in which the mouth of the channel is made narrower by forming the sidewalls (55) to converge to define a narrow mouth (53'). The width of the mouth (53') is preferably chosen to be less than the width of the slot (15) so as to reduce the chance of blockage in the channel due to a build up of deposits from the surface of the land. For this application the ends of the channel formation may be closed by end walls.

Figure 6 shows a drainage pipe system (60) made up of a series of individual drainage pipes (10) to form one long pipe and a geotextile strip (22) communicating with said drainage pipes The drainage pipe system is embedded in a trench (63).

In use, water drains into the geotextile product from the surrounding land and flows downwards to drain into the drainage pipes.

If more than one channel formation is situated circumferentially about the drainage pipe then more than one geotextile product can communicate with the drainage pipe thus increasing the drainage efficiency of the system. Accordingly it is envisaged that such a drainage pipe may be located vertically to enable connection with several geotextile products extending generally horizontally and radially therefrom.

Claims

1 A drainage pipe having a main wall defining an interior main fluid passageway and at least one channel formation extending longitudinally along the exterior of said wall, each channel formation communicating with the main fluid passageway by means of a fluid port means in said wall.

2 A drainage pipe according to claim 1 wherein the port means comprises one or more apertures formed in the main wall; the aperture may be in the form of an elongate slot or a series of holes formed in the main wall.

3 A drainage pipe according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the channel formation is defined by a pair of opposed sidewalls projecting from the main wall.

4 A drainage pipe according to claim 3 for connection to a geotextile product, wherein the channel is formed to receive the geotextile product and the sidewalls are spaced apart so as to grip the geotextile product when inserted into the channel formation.

5 A drainage pipe according to claim 4 wherein the channel sidewalls are resiliently deflectable to grip the geotextile product when received in the channel formation.

6 A drainage pipe according to claim 3 or 4 wherein the sidewalls form a relatively wide channel mouth for facilitating insertion of the geotextile product.

7 drainage pipe according to any preceding claim wherein several said channel formations may be provided spaced about the circumference of the main wall.

8 A drainage pipe substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

9 A drainage pipe system comprising one or more pipes as defined above and one. or more geotextile products connected thereto.

10 A drainage pipe system for draining the water from the surface of a bed, the system comprising one or more pipes as defined above embedded in the bed with the channel formation communicating with said surface to enable water to drain from the surface and enter the pipe via the channel formation.