Method of filling an excavated opening
AssigneeBG plc
InventorRaymond Caulton Owen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An excavated opening (10) through a pavement (12) of a highway and through the underlying base material (14) to expose a gas main (16) is filled by (i) mixing on site cement, foaming agent and water to produce a fluid grout (26), (ii) mixing the grout with loose excavated spoil (22) in the opening, (iii) agitating the mixture using a hand-held poker vibrator (30), (iv) and repeating this procedure until the level (40) is reached. The level (40) corresponds to the underside of a protective layer (50) which is subsequently applied. The majority of the excavated loose spoil from the opening is reused.
Claims8
A method of filling an excavated opening through the surface of a highway and through the underlying base material comprising:
- (i) placing loose excavated spoil from the excavated opening or from some other similar excavated opening (separated from excavated oversize bituminous bound or rigid surface material) and grout in the opening and adding spoil progressively until the spoil appears at the surface of the grout;
- (ii) agitating the mixture of grout and spoil in the opening using mechanical equipment until the grout penetrates the voids in the spoil;
- (iii) adding further spoil;
- (iv) agitating the mixture until further agitation proves difficult;
- and
- (v) repeating steps (i) to (iv) until the surface of the mixture in the opening reaches a level which corresponds or approximately corresponds to the underside of the pavement surfacing layer of the highway.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.