Injection system of ground improvement material and construction method thereof

Abstract

To provide an injection system of a natural ground improvement material and its construction method capable of realizing automation and labor saving of work.SOLUTION: The injection system 1 comprises a container 2A and a 2B for the soil improvement material which can be repeatedly used, a reserve tank 3A and a 3B for transferring the soil improvement material from the container, an injector 4 connected to the reserve tank for injecting the soil improvement material, and a control unit 5 having a receiving part 21 for receiving the injection amount of the injector, a storing part 22 for storing the received injection amount, a determining part 23 for determining that the stored injection amount reaches a predetermined injection amount, and a command part 24 for opening a control valve 9 of a gas introducing part 6 installed in the container. The natural ground improvement material is transferred from the container to the reservoir tank by introducing gas into the container by opening the control valve 9.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for reinforcing the natural ground during tunnel excavation. [Background technology]

[0002] A known method of tunnel excavation involves driving long steel pipes into the ground surrounding the tunnel and injecting ground improvement material from the pipes to improve the ground, known as long steel pipe fore-piling. To reduce the burden on workers and industrial waste, a method using large-capacity reusable containers has been proposed to replace the conventional method using 18-liter cans for injecting ground improvement material (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). For example, a proposed method involves workers visually checking the amount of ground improvement material remaining in a tank connected to an injection machine, and transferring the material from the container to the tank when the remaining amount is low. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-313856 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-261935 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, this method requires workers to visually check the remaining amount in the tank after transferring it from the container, and since the work of transferring it from the container to the tank is done manually, it has the drawback of being less effective in reducing the burden on workers and the number of workers required compared to the conventional method of refilling using one-gallon cans.

[0005] Patent Document 1 describes a method in which a liquid level sensor installed in a container detects that the container is empty and notifies workers of this. However, this method has the risk of foreign matter adhering to the liquid level sensor, leading to a false detection, and requires complicated maintenance work, including cleaning the liquid level sensor.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide a ground improvement material injection system and an application method therefor that can realize automation of work and labor saving. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention is as follows. 1. A ground improvement material injection system used in a construction method for reinforcing unexcavated ground around a tunnel by infiltrating ground improvement material into cracks in the surrounding ground. A container of ground improvement material that can be reused, a reservoir tank for transferring the ground improvement material from the container; an injection machine connected to the reservoir tank and configured to inject ground improvement material; a control unit having a receiving unit that receives injection amount data of the injection device, a data storage unit that stores the received injection amount data, a determination unit that determines whether the stored injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount, and a command unit that opens a control valve of a gas introduction unit installed in the container based on the determination of the determination unit, A ground improvement agent injection system, characterized in that the ground improvement agent is transferred from the container to the reservoir tank by introducing gas into the container by opening the control valve. 2. The ground improvement material injection system described in 1 above, wherein the capacity of the reservoir tank is greater than the capacity of the container. 3. In a construction method in which ground improvement materials are infiltrated into cracks in the surrounding ground of unexcavated ground in a tunnel to reinforce the ground, A step of measuring the injection amount of the ground improvement material; receiving the measured injection amount data and storing the injection amount data; determining whether the accumulated injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount; and a step of opening a control valve of a gas introduction part installed in a container of the reusable ground improvement material when the accumulated injection amount data reaches a predetermined injection amount, A construction method for an injection system for ground improvement material, characterized in that gas is introduced into the container by opening the control valve, thereby transferring the ground improvement material from the container to a reservoir tank connected to an injection machine. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, there is no need for workers to check the remaining amount in the reservoir tank, and the transfer of ground improvement material from the container to the reservoir tank is automated, thereby reducing the burden on workers and reducing the number of workers. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] The present invention will be further described in the following detailed description by way of non-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments according to the present invention and with reference to the mentioned drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views of the drawings. [Figure 1] 1 is an overall view schematically showing an injection system for a ground improvement material according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an injection machine and a control unit according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a construction method for the ground improvement material injection system. [Figure 4] This is an explanatory diagram of a typical ground reinforcement method (steel pipe installation process), where (a) shows a longitudinal section along the tunnel axis direction, and (b) shows a cross section perpendicular to the tunnel axis direction. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a general ground reinforcement method (the injection tube insertion process). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The matters set forth herein are for illustrative purposes only and are intended to provide an illustrative description of the embodiments of the present invention, with the aim of providing what is believed to be the most effective and easily understandable explanation of the principles and conceptual features of the present invention. In this regard, it is not intended to show structural details of the present invention beyond the extent necessary for a fundamental understanding of the present invention, and the description, taken together with the drawings, will make clear to those skilled in the art how some forms of the present invention may be actually embodied.

[0011] Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described by way of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0012] The ground improvement material injection system 1 according to this embodiment is used in a construction method for reinforcing unexcavated ground in a tunnel by injecting the ground improvement material into cracks in the surrounding ground. More specifically, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the injection system 1 involves driving multiple long steel pipes 33 into unexcavated ground 32 in a tunnel 31, inserting multiple injection tubes 34 of different lengths into the long steel pipes 33, injecting the ground improvement material into the multiple injection tubes 34, and injecting the ground improvement material into cracks in the surrounding ground through discharge holes 33a provided on the periphery of the long steel pipes 33 to reinforce the ground. In this embodiment, examples of ground improvement materials include a two-part, mixed and cured urethane-based improvement material consisting of a first liquid (main agent) and a second liquid (hardener) and a silica resin-based improvement material.

[0013] As shown in Figure 1, this injection system 1 is composed of containers 2A and 2B that can be used repeatedly and hold (store) ground improvement material, reservoir tanks 3A and 3B that hold (store) ground improvement material transferred from containers 2A and 2B, an injection machine 4 connected to reservoir tanks 3A and 3B and injects the ground improvement material, and a control unit 5 connected to injection machine 4 by wire or wirelessly.

[0014] Container 2A holds a first solution of ground improvement material, and container 2B holds a second solution of ground improvement material. The bottom outlets of containers 2A and 2B are connected to the top supply ports of reservoir tanks 3A and 3B via passages 41, such as pipes or hoses. Containers 2A and 2B are provided with gas inlets 6 for introducing gas into them. Gas inlet 6 includes a gas cylinder 7 filled with a gas such as nitrogen or argon, an inlet passage 8 (e.g., a pipe or hose) connecting gas cylinder 7 to containers 2A and 2B, and a control valve 9 (e.g., an electrically driven valve such as a solenoid valve or an electric valve) provided in the inlet passage 8. Control valve 9 closes inlet passage 8 to prevent gas from being introduced into containers 2A and 2B, and opens inlet passage 8 under the control of control unit 5 to allow gas to be introduced into containers 2A and 2B.

[0015] Reservoir tank 3A holds a first chemical solution of ground improvement material, and reservoir tank 3B holds a second chemical solution of ground improvement material. The lower outlets of reservoir tanks 3A and 3B are connected to a pump unit 11 (specifically, injection pump 13) of the injection machine 4, which will be described later, via a passage 42 such as a pipe or hose. Reservoir tanks 3A and 3B have a capacity (e.g., 1500 liters) larger than the capacity (e.g., 1000 liters) of containers 2A and 2B. From the standpoint of transport efficiency of the ground improvement material, it is preferable that the ratio (C1 / C2) of capacity C1 of reservoir tanks 3A and 3B to capacity C2 of containers 2A and 2B be 1.2 to 3.0.

[0016] The injection machine 4 is composed of a pump unit 11 for pumping the ground improvement material, and a pump control unit 12 for controlling the pump unit 11. The injection pumps 13 that make up the pump unit 11 are provided in pairs in multiple sets (three sets in Fig. 1) so as to supply the first and second chemical solutions of the ground improvement material to each of multiple injection tubes 34 (see Fig. 5).

[0017] As shown in Fig. 2, the pump control unit 12 (specifically, the PLC in the control unit) has a control unit 14 that controls the injection pump 13 according to the injection conditions of the ground improvement material (e.g., injection amount, injection pressure, etc.), a measurement unit 15 that measures and acquires the injection amount of the ground improvement material injected by the injector 4 (step S1 in Fig. 3), and a transmission unit 16 that transmits the injection amount data acquired by the measurement unit 15 to the control unit 5 (step S2). The measurement unit 15 can measure the injection amount using, for example, control data of the injection pump 13 from the control unit 14, or can measure the injection amount using a flow meter provided at the discharge port of the injection pump 13 or at a passage connected to the discharge port.

[0018] The control unit 5 (specifically, the PLC in the control unit) includes a receiving unit 21 (step S3 in FIG. 3) that receives the injection amount data transmitted from the work machine 4, a data storage unit 22 (step S4) that stores the injection amount data received by the receiving unit 21, a determination unit 23 (step S5) that determines whether the injection amount data stored in the data storage unit 22 has reached a predetermined injection amount (e.g., the capacity of containers 2A and 2B), and a command unit 24 (step S6) that opens the control valve 9 of the gas introduction unit 6 installed in the containers 2A and 2B based on the determination of the determination unit 23. The control unit 5 also includes a manual operation unit 25 such as a button, switch, or touch panel that can be operated by an operator to open the control valve 9 of the gas introduction unit 6.

[0019] The control processing by each of the control units 5 and 12 may be realized by either hardware or software, and preferably the control device can be configured by including a microcontroller (microcomputer) having a CPU, memory device (ROM, RAM, etc.), input / output circuits, etc. at the center, and peripheral circuits such as an input / output interface.

[0020] Next, we will explain the construction method of the above-configured ground improvement material injection system 1. In this embodiment, a predetermined number (e.g., 20) of full containers 2A, 2B filled with ground improvement material at a factory or the like are transported to the construction site, and a predetermined number (e.g., 10) of empty containers 2A, 2B that have been emptied after use at the construction site are transported to the factory or the like, refilled with ground improvement material, and re-transported to the construction site as full containers 2A, 2B.

[0021] A steel pipe 33 is driven into the ground 32 using a known method, and an injection tube 34 is inserted into the steel pipe 33 (see Figures 4 and 5). Next, the tip of an injection hose (injection material) extending from the injection machine 4 is connected to the end of the injection tube 34. Then, prior to injection, an operator operates the manual operation section 25 of the control unit 5 to transfer the entire amount of ground improvement material in the containers 2A and 2B to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B. Thereafter, full containers 2A and 2B are connected to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B in place of the empty containers 2A and 2B, and injection of the ground improvement material begins from that state.

[0022] When one injection (i.e., injection into one steel pipe 33) is completed, the injection amount data acquired by the injection machine 4 is sent to the control unit 5 (steps S1 and S2 in FIG. 3). The receiving unit 21 of the control unit 5 receives the injection amount data (step S3) and stores it in the data storage unit 22 in the control unit 5 (step S4). The determining unit 23 of the control unit 5 sums up the injection amount data in the data storage unit 22 and determines whether the sum reaches a preset injection amount (step S5). If the sum of the injection amount data reaches the preset injection amount, the command unit 24 of the control unit 5 sends an open signal to the control valves 9 of the containers 2A and 2B, and the control valves 9 of the containers 2A and 2B are opened (step S6). The opening of the control valves 9 of the containers 2A and 2B introduces gas into the containers 2A and 2B, increasing the internal pressure, and the ground improvement material in the containers 2A and 2B is transferred to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B. Thereafter, the full containers 2A and 2B are connected to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B in place of the empty containers 2A and 2B. By repeating the above-mentioned steps, the ground improvement material is injected into all of the cast steel pipes 33.

[0023] As described above, the ground improvement material injection system 1 of this embodiment comprises reusable containers 2A, 2B for ground improvement material, reservoir tanks 3A, 3B for transferring ground improvement material from the containers 2A, 2B, an injector 4 connected to the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B for injecting the ground improvement material, a receiver 21 for receiving injection amount data from the injector 4, a data storage unit 22 for storing the received injection amount data, a judgment unit 23 for determining whether the accumulated injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount, and a control unit 5 having a command unit 23 for opening a control valve 9 of a gas introduction unit 6 installed in the containers 2A, 2B based on the judgment of the judgment unit 23, and the ground improvement material is transferred from the containers 2A, 2B to the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B by opening the control valve 9 and introducing gas into the containers 2A, 2B. This eliminates the need for workers to check the remaining amount in reservoir tanks 3A and 3B, and also automates the transfer of ground improvement material from containers 2A and 2B to reservoir tanks 3A and 3B, reducing the burden on workers and reducing the number of workers required.

[0024] Here, it is conceivable to use a pump to transfer the ground improvement material from containers 2A, 2B to reservoir tanks 3A, 3B, but in this case the ground improvement material remaining in empty containers 2A, 2B would react with moisture in the air and harden, making cleaning up the material cumbersome. In contrast, in this embodiment, the ground improvement material is transferred from containers 2A, 2B to reservoir tanks 3A, 3B by opening control valve 9 to introduce an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon into containers 2A, 2B to increase the internal pressure, so the ground improvement material remaining in empty containers 2A, 2B is less likely to harden, making cleaning up the material easier or unnecessary.

[0025] Furthermore, in the ground improvement material injection system 1 of this embodiment, the capacity of the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B is larger than the capacity of the containers 2A and 2B. As a result, by opening the control valve 9 when the accumulated injection amount data reaches the capacity of the containers 2A and 2B, the entire amount of ground improvement material in the containers 2A and 2B can be efficiently transferred to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B. Furthermore, if the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B are filled with more ground improvement material than the capacity of the containers 2A and 2B prior to injection, the ground improvement material can be transferred from the containers 2A and 2B to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B even while the injector 4 is injecting the ground improvement material, thereby improving injection efficiency.

[0026] Furthermore, the construction method of the ground improvement material injection system 1 of this embodiment includes the steps of measuring the injection amount of ground improvement material by the work machine 4 (step S1 in FIG. 3), receiving the measured injection amount data and storing the injection amount data (steps S3 and S4), determining whether the stored injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount (step S5), and, when the stored injection amount data has reached the predetermined injection amount, opening the control valve 9 of the gas inlet 6 installed in the containers 2A and 2B of the reusable ground improvement material (step S6). By opening the control valve 9, gas is introduced into the containers 2A and 2B, and the ground improvement material is transferred from the containers 2A and 2B to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B connected to the injector 4. This eliminates the need for workers to check the remaining amount of ground improvement material in the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B, and the transfer of ground improvement material from the containers 2A and 2B to the reservoir tanks 3A and 3B is automated, reducing the burden on workers and reducing the number of workers.

[0027] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention depending on the purpose and application. In other words, in the above embodiment, the capacity of the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B is larger than the capacity of the containers 2A, 2B, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B and the containers 2A, 2B may have the same capacity. Furthermore, the capacity of the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B may be smaller than the capacity of the containers 2A, 2B.

[0028] In the above embodiment, the control valve 9 is opened when the accumulated injection amount data reaches the capacity of the containers 2A, 2B, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the control valve 9 may be opened when the accumulated injection amount data reaches the capacity of the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B. Furthermore, the control valve 9 may be opened when the accumulated injection amount data reaches an injection amount different from the capacity of the containers 2A, 2B and the reservoir tanks 3A, 3B.

[0029] In the above embodiment, the control unit 5 is provided separately from the injector 4, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a control unit 5 provided in the injector 4 may be adopted. In this case, the pump control unit 12 can be given the functions of the control unit 5.

[0030] In addition, in the above embodiment, an example was given of injecting ground improvement material through a long steel pipe 33, but this is not limited to this, and a form in which ground improvement material is injected through, for example, a hollow bolt made of metal or resin may also be adopted.

[0031] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a two-component mixed hardening type ground improvement material is exemplified, but this is not limited to this, and one-component ground improvement materials such as cement milk and mortar may also be used. In this case, the injection system can be configured with one container and one reservoir tank.

[0032] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the claims of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0033] The present invention is widely used as a technique for injecting ground improvement materials in advance ground reinforcement methods during tunnel excavation. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 1; Ground improvement material injection system 2A, 2B; Container 3A, 3B: Reservoir tank 4: Injector 5; Control unit 9; Control valve 21; Receiving section 22; Data storage section 23;Judgment Department 24;Command Department

Claims

1. In a ground improvement material injection system used in a construction method for reinforcing the ground by infiltrating ground improvement material into cracks in the surrounding ground of unexcavated ground around a tunnel, A container of ground improvement material that can be reused, a reservoir tank for transferring the ground improvement material from the container; an injection machine connected to the reservoir tank and configured to inject ground improvement material; a control unit having a receiving unit that receives injection amount data of the injection device, a data storage unit that stores the received injection amount data, a determination unit that determines whether the stored injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount, and a command unit that opens a control valve of a gas introduction unit installed in the container based on the determination of the determination unit, A ground improvement agent injection system, characterized in that the ground improvement agent is transferred from the container to the reservoir tank by introducing gas into the container by opening the control valve.

2. 2. The system for injecting ground improvement material according to claim 1, wherein the capacity of the reservoir tank is greater than the capacity of the container.

3. In this construction method, ground improvement materials are infiltrated into cracks in the surrounding ground of unexcavated ground around a tunnel to reinforce the ground. A step of measuring the injection amount of the ground improvement material; receiving the measured injection amount data and storing the injection amount data; determining whether the accumulated injection amount data has reached a predetermined injection amount; and a step of opening a control valve of a gas introduction part installed in a container of the reusable ground improvement material when the accumulated injection amount data reaches a predetermined injection amount, A construction method for an injection system for ground improvement material, characterized in that gas is introduced into the container by opening the control valve, thereby transferring the ground improvement material from the container to a reservoir tank connected to an injection machine.

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