US 5,259,705 AGranted

Guide box assembly system for in-ground barrier installation

OwnerLouis B. Breaux, Lloyd F. Moffett, Sr.inventors

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Abstract

A hazardous waste containment system for preventing the lateral migration of hazardous fluid substances (including both liquid and gas wastes) into the water table, particularly for sites which are located over a fluid impermeable strata of clay (20) or the like. The system uses an encircling (FIG. 8) barrier containment wall (W) comprising a plurality of slidingly engaged, interlocked, vertical barrier members (501/101) which extend down to and sealingly interface with the underlying fluid impermeable strata (20). The barrier members are slidingly engaged via interlocking male and female appendages, which mate and form vertically extended, interlocking, sealed joints, in which fluid impermeable seals (508/108) are formed. An installation method for assembling the barrier members in the ground uses a series of guide box assemblies (1-3+), which can be easily assembled and disassembled and which are placed in the excavation fully assembled with its exterior walls spaced from the side walls of the excavation, using their interiors to create a "clean," dirt-free, temporary, isolated work space for the insertion and interconnection of the barrier members. The method further includes the utilization of a sealant (25) at the base of the containment wall to prevent leaching under it (FIG. 9). The system may be used to contain a variety of materials and may be implemented in various soil conditions with similarly successful results. Two exemplary guide box assembly embodiments (FIGS. 1 & 10-13), the latter of which includes a pair of end, winged, base spreader bars (174/175), and two exemplary barrier member embodiments (FIGS. 5 & 10), double-wall and single wall, respectively, are disclosed.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A method of producing an in-ground lateral containment barrier system, preventing the lateral migration of fluid contaminants in an area in the ground, comprising the following steps:

a. making an excavation around the area to be contained;
b. forming a fluid impermeable barrier wall in the ground around the contaminants by placing a series of elongated barrier members within the excavation and slidingly engaging and interconnecting them in a vertical manner, connecting them together, including the sub-steps of:
i. placing a first guide box assembly, having at least one longitudinal slot formed therein of a width to accommodate a barrier member, in the excavation,
ii. placing a subsequent series of guide box assemblies in the excavation adjacent to a preceding one of said guide box assemblies, each guide box assembly having at least one longitudinal slot formed therein of a width to accommodate a barrier member, said guide box assemblies being placed in the excavation with the exterior side walls of the guide box assemblies being spaced from the side walls of the excavation, the interiors of said series of guide box assemblies forming a continuous, open area communicating with said slot of said first guide box assembly, providing a temporary, open, protected work space for the insertion and assembly of the barrier members in the longitudinal slots of respective ones of said guide box assemblies,
iii. inserting a first barrier member in the longitudinal slot of said first guide box assembly, and
iv. slidingly engaging and connecting together, in longitudinal fashion, a further series of barrier members to said first barrier member in the temporary, open, protected work space formed by said guide box assemblies, forming a fluid impermeable barrier in the ground;
and
c. filling the excavation with material, laterally containing the contaminated area with the fluid impermeable barrier members and ultimately removing at least the main structure of said guide box assemblies from said excavation.

5 more elements

A guide box assembly system defining a temporary, protected, open, work space for installing and interconnecting, in-ground barrier members in an excavation, comprising:

two, spaced, rigid, connected, wall panels, each having a top and bottom and each having an interior wall defining between them the protected, open, work space of a size to accommodate a barrier member, and each having an exterior wall, said wall panels being temporarily held together as a rigid, assembled unit by means of laterally extending, rigid, spaced, top, spacer bars easily attached and detached across to the top portions of the wall panels and at least two, laterally extending, rigid, spaced, bottom, spacer bars easily attached and detached across to the bottom portions of the wall panels by means of a series of at least four, spaced, guide shafts extending down completely through the height of their respective wall panel from its top to its bottom, two per panel, and rotatably engaged with said bottom spacer bars at laterally spaced, end portions thereof, said bottom spacer bars being otherwise unattached to said wall panels, allowing said bottom spacer bars to be easily detached from the panels and left down in the ground in the bottom of the excavation by oppositely rotating said guide shafts at the tops of said panels.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/985,944Filed 4 Dec 1992 · continuation in part
Priority: 25 Aug 1989
Granted: 9 Nov 1993
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

E02D 31/02
Protective arrangements for foundations or foundation structures ; Ground foundation measures for protecting the soil or the subsoil water, e.g.…:…
B09B 1/008
Dumping solid waste: subterranean disposal, e.g. in boreholes or subsurface fractures
E02D 5/20
Bulkheads, piles, or other structural elements specially adapted to foundation engineering: bulkheads or similar walls made of prefabricated parts…
E02D 17/08
Foundation trenches ditches or narrow shafts: bordering or stiffening the sides of ditches trenches or narrow shafts for foundations