Method and assembly for soldier pile retaining wall leveling and erosion control

A method and assembly are disclosed for building a soldier pile shore wall or soldier pile retaining wall. The method and assembly are designed to permit the shore wall to be leveled along the bed of a body of water, whether the bed of the body of water is level or not level. Simultaneously, the method and assembly prevent erosion of the bed of the body of water in the vicinity of the assembly, extending the life-span of the shore wall, and enabling maintenance of the shore wall to be performed by permitting the assembly to be re-embedded in the bed of the body of water and re-leveled at the time when erosion eventually does occur.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1illustrates one embodiment of the novel shore wall or retaining wall of the invention intended for installation along the periphery of a body of water. A plurality of vertical soldier pilings (1) are driven or pounded into the bed of the body of water along a longitudinal center line with uniform spacing equivalent to the longitudinal dimension of the shore wall base element assembly (2) and lagging panels (3). The opposing transverse slots (4-5) of the vertical soldier pilings are equivalent width to the width of the framing element (6) of the shore wall base element assembly. The side edge framing element is slotted into the receiving slot of the soldier pile which is an I-beam in the preferred embodiment. After the shore wall base element is inserted between adjacent soldier pilings, the shore wall base element is driven or pounded into the bed of the body of water (7). The same mechanism is repeated for a plurality of shore wall base elements which are driven or pounded into the lake bed so that they are level with the adjacent shore wall base elements. Lagging of equivalent width to the framing elements is then inserted in the slot made by the soldier piling where it is placed atop the shore wall base element to provide a level uppermost edge (8) to the finished shore wall. This is repeated with a plurality of lagging so that the uppermost edge of each lagging panel is level and the same height above the surface of the water as any adjacent lagging panel. As can be seen, the lower most edge of the shore wall base element is fully embedded in the bed of the body of water to prevent migration of water through the shore wall base element. The shore wall base elements are leveled in the horizontal plane to ensure that the lagging panels inserted atop the shore wall base elements will also be level. In situations where there is a steep drop off of the bed of the body of water, the shore wall base element can be incrementally lower than the shore wall base element adjacent to it in an amount equivalent to the height of the adjacent lagging panel, and in that situation, multiple lagging panels can be added atop a shore wall base element to achieve a level uppermost edge of the shore wall that is uniform in height above the surface of the body of water. The same method and assembly can be implemented as a retaining wall by embedding the shore wall base element assembly (now called a retaining wall base element assembly) into dry ground instead of the bed of a body of water.

FIG. 2illustrates a pictorial view of the shore wall base element assembly comprised of a rectangular metal wall panel (9) with an opposing upper edge (10) and lower edge (11) and opposing transverse side edges (12-13). The upper edge and transverse side edges of the metal wall panel are supported by framing elements (14) along those edges. Reinforcing gussets (15) are connected perpendicular to the upper edge of the framing element and perpendicular to the rectangular metal wall panel, terminating to the equivalent width of the rectangular metal wall panel at its lower edge. The reinforcing gussets provide rigidity to the shore wall base element and also help the shore wall base element cut into the bed of the body of water or ground because of the wedge-shaped design and orientation. The shore wall base element can be constructed in a variety of sizes.

FIG. 3illustrates the detail of the reinforcing gussets (16), showing the wedge shape of the gussets which terminate at the lower edge of the rectangular metal wall panel (17) and expand to the width of the framing element on the upper edge of the rectangular metal wall panel (18).

FIG. 4illustrates a detailed view of the framing element along the upper edge (19) and opposing transverse side edges (20-21) of the rectangular metal wall panel. When the shore wall base element is leveled upon being embedded into the bed of the body of water or ground, the framing element at the upper edge of the shore wall base element will be level, enabling level lagging panels to be placed atop the framing element's uppermost surface.

Testing and experimentation has revealed the best mode contemplated for the retaining or shore wall design, which includes the use of 20′ long I-beams as soldier pilings with receiving slots that are 5″ wide to accommodate the side edge framing element of the shore wall base element assembly. Also, testing and experimentation has revealed the best mode of the invention includes a shore wall base element that has a vertical dimension of 4′, a horizontal dimension of 10′ and includes a rectangular metal wall panel formed from ¼″ plate mild steel. Testing and experimentation has also revealed the best mode of the invention includes framing elements along the upper edge and transverse side edges of the shore wall base elements including framing elements that are made of C-5 channel steel that is 5″ wide. Lagging is commonly available with a5′ vertical dimension, 10′ horizontal dimension and 5″ depth dimension. The I-beam soldier pilings are spaced 10′ apart at their vertical centers to accommodate 10′ horizontal dimension shore wall base element assemblies and 10′ horizontal dimension lagging.

The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and the description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. The embodiment was chosen and described to best explain the invention and its application to enable others skilled in the art to best use the invention in those embodiments and with various modifications suited to the particular use contemplated. All substitutions and variations and equivalents thereof are encompassed within the scope of this invention, which is limited only by the claims appended hereto.