Soil-covering structure comprising layers of geocomposite enclosing a reinforcing element, and a method for the production of that structure

Abstract

A soil-covering structure comprises layers of geocomposite which enclose a reinforcing element and which are engaged with the latter at predetermined positions only.

1 . A soil-covering structure comprising layers of geocomposite enclosing a reinforcing element, characterised in that the layers of geocomposite are engaged with the reinforcing element only at predetermined portions.  
     
     
         2 . A soil-covering structure according to  claim 1 , characterised in that the reinforcing element comprises wire netting.  
     
     
         3 . A soil-covering structure according to  claim 2 , characterised in that the layers of geocomposite comprise a geomat.  
     
     
         4 . A method for the production of a soil-covering structure according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising the stages of: 
 providing two or more layers of geocomposite material;    providing one or more reinforcing elements; characterised in that it also comprises the following stages:    superposing the two or more layers of geocomposite material on the one or more reinforcing elements; and    heating one or more predetermined portions of the geocomposite material in order to permit the engagement of the one or more predetermined portions with the reinforcing element.    
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 4 , characterised in that it also comprises the stages of: 
 providing two or more support elements;    loading layers of geocomposite material onto the two or more support elements;    providing at least two compression elements arranged at a short distance from one another in such a manner as to define a path;    bringing to the vicinity of the inlet of the path a reinforcing element contained between the two or more layers of geocomposite material;    heating one or more predetermined portions of the geocomposite material in order to permit the engagement of the one or more predetermined portions with the reinforcing element; and    passing the two layers of geocomposite material enclosing the reinforcing element between the two compression elements.    
     
     
         6 . An installation for the production of a soil-covering structure according to any one of  claims 1  to  3 , characterised in that it comprises an inlet region for two or more layers of geocomposite material and one or more reinforcing means, support means for layers of geocomposite and compression means being arranged in the vicinity of the inlet region, and heating means being arranged in such a manner that they are distributed in predetermined positions in the vicinity of the compression means.  
     
     
         7 . An installation according to  claim 6 , characterised in that the support means comprise one or more cylindrical support elements, the compression means comprising two or more cylindrical compression elements arranged at a short distance from one another, and the heating means comprising heating torches.