Patent Description:
Flood barriers prevent invading water on a flooding side of the barrier from reaching a protected side of the barrier. They are used where flooding waters occasionally occur, such as an area subject to an occasional unusually high tide, a storm surge, a springtime swollen river, or anywhere a flood may occur.

A good flood barrier has several attributes. A flood barrier must generally be high enough to prevent water (or other flooding fluid) from breaching or cresting above the top of the barrier, and it should be sufficiently sealed or waterproof enough to allow only an amount of water through the barrier that is negligible for the application at hand. Perhaps less obviously, the barrier should be strong enough to withstand the substantial horizontal force from a standing or even surging water body on the flooding side of the barrier. It must withstand this force without bursting or even just sliding laterally toward the protected side of the barrier.

Traditional flood barriers include large permanent installations, such as levees or dikes, and may consist simply of a large mound of dirt or of concrete and steel walls. In areas where flooding is less frequent, a flood barrier may preferably be non-permanent, such that it can be deployed when a flood is threatened and removed once the threat is gone. Such deployable barriers can be used for infrequent flooding threats, for example, to protect a single building in a town where a permanent levee may fail, or to protect an area from the unexpected flooding from a town's water main pipe break. A common deployable flood barrier is a simple pile of sand bags.

<FIG> depicts a more sophisticated prior art removable flood barrier, as presented in <CIT>. As depicted in <FIG>, the prior art barrier <NUM> includes a solid wall <NUM>, a solid support plate <NUM>, and a gasket <NUM>. The solid wall <NUM> and solid support plate <NUM> are large and heavy, making storage and installation a challenge. Additionally, gasket <NUM> must be included to provide an effective seal against flooding water and may be <NUM> (<NUM>") or more thick. The gasket <NUM> requires pressure prior to flooding, which in <FIG> is provided by sandbag <NUM>.

<CIT> discloses a water barrier, which may be deployed temporarily. It consists of a system of metal support elements which support a plastic sheeting. The system may be transported, unrolled and erected using very little effort and after being used it may be rolled up again. An important saving in material is obtained by designing the support elements (<NUM>) such that they are subjected to tensile forces.

<CIT> discloses a flood protection device comprising a supporting structure for supporting a removable water impermeable protection sheet to prevent water from passing by. The supporting structure comprises a front for bearing against the protection sheet, a back, a horizontal stabilizing element for bearing against an underlying ground surface, and an elongated supporting element for bearing against the protection sheet, the supporting element being inclined in relation to the horizontal stabilizing element.

A flood barrier as claimed hereinafter is provided.

This disclosure presents a rapidly deployable flood barrier. The presented flood barrier collapses and may be rolled into a small and light-weight roll for easy storage and simplicity of deployment. It is flexible, and while erected it can bend to form convex or concave curves in the barrier wall to enable construction of a flood barrier that goes around corners. The presented barrier need not be customized for a particular location, and is reusable and repurposeable to other locations.

The primary material of the barrier may be a waterproof and flexible material such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Materials such as PVC enable the barrier to be folded or rolled up. The weight of water itself can help create a watertight seal, and the force from the water weight, to some extent, adds to the stability necessary to prevent the barrier from sliding horizontally toward the protected side of the barrier. Stiff battens and rods keep the barrier erect prior to arrival of the water. Flexible wires give the barrier strength to hold the barrier wall against the substantial horizontal force from flooded water. When flooded, the weight of the flooding liquid itself can help seal the flexible material of the base to the ground or floor beneath the base.

<FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary flood barrier, erected and in a straight configuration. When erected, the flood barrier <NUM> provides protection to a protected side <NUM> from a flooding fluid on the flooding side <NUM>. The flood barrier <NUM> includes a wall <NUM> and a base <NUM> which are connected at hinge <NUM>. The wall <NUM> and base <NUM> may comprise a flexible sheet material with low water permeability that is resistant to stretching, such as PVC. Battens <NUM> are embedded in the wall <NUM> which add stiffness to the wall <NUM> along the length of the battens <NUM>. For example, as depicted in <FIG>, the parallel vertical battens <NUM> may at as wall support members by helping to prevent the flexible sheet of wall <NUM> from folding over on itself prior to flooding. Base <NUM> also includes embedded battens <NUM>. Stiff rods <NUM> act as a limiter to help hold up the wall prior to flooding, and after flooding, both rods <NUM> and wires <NUM> and <NUM> act as a limiter to help counteract the horizontal force of the water. Bolt holes (not depicted) enable bolting the flood barrier to the ground beneath the base <NUM>.

The battens <NUM> and <NUM> may be long and thin, and may be arranged parallel to each other along the length <NUM> of the barrier <NUM>. The battens <NUM> in the base <NUM> each extend from the hinge <NUM> to the front edge <NUM>, and the battens <NUM> each extend from the hinge <NUM> to the top edge <NUM>. Dimensions of individual battens for a barrier <NUM> height <NUM> of <NUM> (<NUM>') may be <NUM> wide and <NUM> thick. Battens <NUM> and <NUM> may be made of a wide variety of materials, but strong and light materials such as fiberglass or wood or aluminum may be preferred. The battens <NUM> and <NUM> may be uniformly spaced across the length <NUM> of the barrier; for example, spacing <NUM> may be from <NUM> to <NUM>. A narrower spacing width and more than two wires per batten may be preferred for use in extreme conditions, while a wider spacing and only one or two wires may be preferred for comparably ordinary flooding conditions. A narrower spacing and more wires may increase the overall strength of the barrier <NUM>.

The sheet materials of the wall <NUM> and base <NUM> are of the same material. Desirable properties of the sheet material itself include low water permeability, strength, abrasion resistance, light weight, and low cost. PVC of <NUM> to <NUM> grams per square meter is an example material that may meet these requirements. Also important is the existence of methods for both temporarily and permanently sealing the sheet to itself in a strong and water tight seal. A permanent seal method may be preferable for creating the batten pockets, while a temporary seal method may be preferable to seal the ends of the barrier <NUM> to a neighboring barrier. By sealing the ends of neighboring barriers together, a longer combined barrier can be created. An exemplary seal between neighboring barriers is described below regarding <FIG>.

A single continuous sheet is used for both wall and base with simply a bend at the hinge <NUM>. A continuous sheet simplifies the method of ensuring water-tightness at the hinge <NUM>. Hinge <NUM> is nothing more than a bend in the continuous sheet material where battens <NUM> and <NUM> meet (or come close to meeting).

The battens <NUM> and <NUM> may be embedded in the sheet material of wall <NUM> and base <NUM> by various means such as by creating a pocket in the sheet in the way battens are held in the sail of a sailboat. Two sheets can be overlapped and sealed together at two points, leaving a gap between the two sealed points just larger than the width of the batten. This creates a pocket between the two sheets that a batten can be slid into. The seal mechanism between the sheets may depend on the material of the sheets. For PVC material, chemical or heat welding can be used. In other embodiments stitching may be used. The battens may be loose in the pockets, or secured to the sheet material, for example by melting or welding. Battens loose in their pockets may be preferable to allow the pocket to dry after use as a barrier in a flood. A batten loose in its pocket may still be held firmly in place when the system is erected by the wires <NUM> and <NUM> and by rods <NUM>.

Wires <NUM> and <NUM> tether wall <NUM> to base <NUM>. They provide strength to help withstand the pressure from water on the flooded side <NUM> of wall <NUM> when there is no counteracting force from the protected side <NUM> of wall <NUM>. When flooded, the vertical downward force from the water itself presses down on the base <NUM>, provided at least <NUM> (<NUM>") of the base <NUM> near where the base <NUM> joins the wall <NUM> is relatively flat against the ground, sealing it to the ground beneath the base, and also helps provide the force at the bottom ends of wires <NUM> and <NUM> to resist the tension at the top end caused by the horizontal force from the water. Asdepicted here, the wires are connected at points along the base <NUM> and wall <NUM> where a batten is located. The wires <NUM> and <NUM> may be connected through one layer of sheet material and directly connected to the battens <NUM> and <NUM> themselves for additional stability rather than connecting the wires <NUM> and <NUM> only to the sheet material itself. In this case, wires will go through sheet material and battens and have a washer and fastener on the backside of the sheet material providing a water seal when pressure from the flood water are applied. As depicted in <FIG>, there are two wires, <NUM> and <NUM>, per batten connected to the base <NUM> at points <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and connected to the wall <NUM> at points <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. Other arrangements are possible with more or fewer wires. For example, when the height <NUM> of the flood barrier is taller, more wires may be used; when the barrier is shorter, fewer wires may be used to connect along the width <NUM> of the base <NUM> and along the height <NUM> of the wall <NUM>. The material of the wires may preferably have high tensile strength and be resistant to corrosion from the expected flooding fluid. The wire material may be metal or other types of string, and may be woven or braided for strength and durability.

The rods <NUM> are connected to the base <NUM> and wall <NUM> at points <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and when erected, the rods <NUM> in this embodiment are co-planer with the wires <NUM> and <NUM>. The rod <NUM> and wires <NUM> and <NUM> are all connected to the same battens <NUM> and <NUM>. When erected, the wires <NUM> and <NUM>, and rod <NUM> may all be parallel to each other, all of which may be at a <NUM> degree angle to the base <NUM> and <NUM> degree angle to the wall <NUM>, with the wall <NUM> at a <NUM> degree angle to the base <NUM>. Other angles are possible. For example, rod <NUM> may connect to the wall <NUM> at the same point as outer wire <NUM>, while rod <NUM> and wire <NUM> still connect to the base <NUM> at different points. In this alternate embodiment, points <NUM> and <NUM> would be the same point. An embodiment with rod <NUM> more vertical than <NUM> degrees when erected may be preferable to prevent rod <NUM> from extending beyond front edge <NUM> when the barrier <NUM> is collapsed as in <FIG>.

The rods <NUM> may be permanently connected to the base at point <NUM> in a hinged joint, while the rods may be capable of being disconnected and reconnected to wall <NUM> at point <NUM> when erecting or collapsing the barrier <NUM>. Alternately, both ends of rod <NUM> could be capable of temporary connections at both points <NUM> and <NUM>. A temporary connection can be made with a splint nut and a washer. The end of the rod can poke through the wall <NUM>, a nut on the protected side <NUM> of the wall holds the rods <NUM> in place, and the pressure from flooded water on the washer seals the hole that the end of the rods <NUM> pokes through. Other temporary attachment mechanisms are possible. The rods <NUM> may act as an angle support members in that they help to hold the wall at a desired angle relative to the base. The material of the rods <NUM> may preferably be stiff enough to hold the wall <NUM> up prior to flooding. A wide variety of rod materials are possible, such a fiberglass, wood, metal, or plastic.

Both rods and wires may act as limiters to hold the wall up before and after flooding.

The barrier <NUM> may be bolted to the ground or otherwise secured from, for example, strong storm winds. Bolting the barrier <NUM> to the ground may instead help prevent an erected barrier from tipping over before or after flooding; sliding horizontally prior to flooding from, for example, strong storm winds; and sliding horizontally after flooding due to horizontal force on the wall <NUM> from standing water pressure and any water surge. However, in the absence of wind, bolting may not be necessary.

Bolt holes (not pictured) in the area <NUM> at the ends of battens can provide a connection point to bolt the barrier <NUM> to the ground. For example, a flap of sheet material of the base <NUM> may extend out from front edge <NUM> at the end of every batten pocket. The flap may contain a bolt hole that may be reinforced with a ring of, for example, high-strength plastic or light-weight metal. Such a simple bolt hole can be used with a variety of bolts. A bolting mechanism that functions with a variety of bolting mechanisms may be preferable to enable bolting to a variety of different types of ground or floor that may be beneath the base <NUM>. The flap of sheet material may be an extension of the sheet material used to form the batten pocket which may be formed on the underside of base <NUM>. Such an extension of the batten pocket material may also extend at the hinge <NUM> from either of the batten pockets for battens <NUM> or <NUM>. Such an extension at the hinge <NUM> with a bolt hole may provide additional means for bolting the barrier <NUM>. Other methods for fixing the barrier <NUM> to the ground underneath the base <NUM> are possible. For example hooks, or tie-stays, or other similar means may be used. These fixing means may be attached at the underside of base <NUM>, along the hinge <NUM> and/or front edge <NUM>, or may also be attached to the wall <NUM>. Other bolt configurations may be used; for example, multiple bolts per batten, or only one bolt for every several battens. No bolts may be needed for installation in locations that flood without excessive wind.

The flood barrier <NUM> may be constructed in many lengths, but the length need not be matched to any particular application. A complete flood barrier for a protected space may comprise several identical barriers such as barrier <NUM>, all connected end-to-end with a watertight seal. As described above for a seal at the hinge <NUM>, a preferable seal may be strong and resist leaking. Such a seal may consist of a three finger overlap, with a through-bolt, and a flat locking band connecting the flaps tightly together to preventing leakage. Other seals are possible, such as a waterproof zipper. The connected barriers may form a complete loop around the protected space, or be connected at the ends to a permanent structure of some sort that will act as a flood barrier, such as a concrete wall or the side of a building. As depicted in <FIG>, a flood barrier <NUM> may have a length <NUM> of <NUM> (<NUM>'), a height <NUM> of <NUM> (<NUM>'), and a width <NUM> of <NUM> (<NUM>'). Other dimensions are possible, and the height <NUM> and width <NUM> need not be identical. A height <NUM> less than width <NUM> may be preferable for more stability when flooded.

<FIG> is a schematic side view of an exemplary flood barrier in an erected configuration. Flood barrier <NUM> has only one wire <NUM> alone with rod <NUM>. Wire <NUM> connects wall <NUM> to base <NUM> at points <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, while rod <NUM> connects at <NUM> and <NUM>. Wall <NUM> and base <NUM> are connected at hinge <NUM>. Protected side <NUM> is protected from water <NUM> on the flooding side <NUM> by flood barrier <NUM>. The weight of water <NUM> creates horizontal force <NUM> on the wall <NUM>, and vertical force <NUM> on the base <NUM>.

<FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary flood barrier in a collapsed configuration. To collapse (or close) the barrier, first any ground bolts are removed and the rods <NUM> are detached at one or both ends. Then the wall <NUM> is simply folded down at the hinge until it lies on top of the base <NUM>. Battens <NUM> and <NUM> may remain in their pockets in the base <NUM> and wall <NUM>. The rods <NUM> and wires <NUM> may remain in between the base <NUM> and collapsed wall <NUM>. Once flattened together, the entire barrier may be rolled up.

<FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary flood barrier in a rolled configuration. As depicted, the bottom of base <NUM> forms the outside of the rolled barrier <NUM>, with battens <NUM> still embedded inside the base <NUM>. After rolling, ties <NUM> can be wrapped around the rolled barrier to secure the barrier in a tightly rolled and hence more easily transported configuration. Ties <NUM> may include integrated handles <NUM> to more easily carry the rolled barrier <NUM>. The ties may be permanently affixed to an end of the base <NUM> to prevent loss while erected, and may also simplify securely tying up the roll. The material for the ties <NUM> may be the same material as used for the sheet of wall <NUM> and base <NUM>. When manufactured of sufficiently light materials, barrier <NUM> with a height of <NUM> (<NUM>') and length of <NUM> (<NUM>') may be easily carried and deployed by just two people.

Deploying a rolled barrier <NUM> is a reverse of the above process. The roll is positioned at one end of the area where the flood barrier is desired to be erected. The ties <NUM> are released, and the barrier <NUM> is unrolled. The barrier is opened by lifting the wall off the base, and the rods are affixed to both the wall and the base. After any final positioning relative to the ground or other surrounding structures such as a neighboring barrier, the ground bolts are attached.

A straight barrier such as barrier <NUM> of <FIG> can be deployed as a curved barrier so as to curve around dimensional objects, such as buildings, streets, docks, piers, riversides, etc. <FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary flood barrier in an erected concave curve configuration. <FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary flood barrier in an erected convex curve configuration. In the concave curve of <FIG>, the front edge <NUM> of the flooded side is taut, while the entire wall <NUM> is slack with extra sheet material between the battens. This means both the top edge <NUM> and the hinge <NUM> are also slack with extra sheet material. Extra sheet material in the base <NUM> may prevent a sufficient seal from forming between the base and the ground below the base. However, as long as a sufficiently wide strip of contiguous sheet material is not buckling or bubbling, a sufficient seal may still be created by the downward pressure from flooded water. The width of the battens limit how close the vertical battens <NUM> can get to each other, which will also limit the amount of slack sheet material at hinge <NUM>. Just <NUM> (<NUM>") (of the <NUM> (<NUM>') total) of flat sheet material near front edge <NUM> may form a sufficient seal between base <NUM> and the ground below it.

The abundance of extra base material (the <NUM> (<NUM>' <NUM>") extra material in the example above) provides redundancy in the seal between the base and the ground. This extra width in the seal, in addition to providing a seal despite bubbling at one edge, also enables a barrier in a straight configuration as in <FIG> to provide a complete seal despite irregularity in the ground beneath the base <NUM>, such as small holes or lumps in ground that is not flat. Larger holes may require filling in with clay or sandbags prior to erection of the barrier.

The convex curve configuration in <FIG> has the reverse of the curve of <FIG>. In <FIG> the wall <NUM>, upper edge <NUM>, and hinge <NUM> are all taut, while the front edge <NUM> has loose material and may bubble. As in the concave curve of <FIG>, as long as a sufficient portion of sheet material remains flat in the base <NUM> near the hinge <NUM>, a sufficient seal may be created.

<FIG> is an illustration of exemplary ends of two flood barriers before connecting the flood barriers in a seam. A waterproof seam can be constructed between neighboring flood barriers that seals the barriers together to create a longer combined flood barrier. A waterproof seam can be constructed in many ways. As depicted in <FIG>, one embodiment of such a seam includes interleaving four flaps, two from the ends of each neighboring flood barrier, and then sealing the flaps together with a strip of stiff material fed through a series of regularly spaced posts constructed within one of the flaps that penetrate the remaining stack of flaps.

<FIG> illustrates the start of the process for building the seam. The right end of a flood barrier <NUM> is lying next to the left end of a flood barrier <NUM>. A flap <NUM> is attached to the main sheet <NUM> material of barrier <NUM>, and a similar flap <NUM> is attached to the main sheet <NUM> material of barrier <NUM>. The flaps <NUM> and <NUM> may be made of the same material as the main sheets <NUM> and <NUM>, and may be of the same thickness as the main sheets material. The flaps may preferably be attached with a watertight seal, such as by welding. In this embodiment, the ends of the main sheets <NUM> and <NUM> also act as flaps for the interleaved seam in the same manner as flaps <NUM> and <NUM>. Alternately, the two end sheets <NUM> and <NUM> may be created by attaching two separate pieces of flap material to the end of the main flexible sheet material of the body of the flood barrier.

The bottom flap, in this case sheet <NUM>, has a base <NUM> for post <NUM> attached to the upper surface of bottom sheet <NUM>. The post <NUM> extends upward from the base <NUM> and away from and perpendicular to the bottom of end sheet <NUM>. The post <NUM> is wide, with an eyelet <NUM> in the side of post <NUM>. Flaps <NUM> and <NUM> and end sheet <NUM> have holes <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively that match the shape and position of the top of post <NUM>. Holes <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be, for example, cut, stamped, or molded into the flap and sheet material. An arrayed series of such posts and holes may be evenly or regularly spaced along the ends of barriers <NUM> and <NUM>, as depicted in <FIG>.

<FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary partially assembled seam between two flood barriers. In <FIG>, the barriers <NUM> and <NUM> have been slid closer to each other, such that the end sheet <NUM> lies on top of end sheet <NUM>, and hole <NUM> has been slid down over the end of post <NUM>. Continuing the construction from <FIG>, flap <NUM> is overlaid on top of end sheet <NUM> with hole <NUM> sliding over the end of post <NUM>. Then flap <NUM> is the top layer of the stack, lying on top of flap <NUM> with hole <NUM> also slid over the end of post <NUM>.

The resulting stack is depicted in <FIG> is an illustration of an exemplary seam after assembly between two flood barriers and while it illustrates the sheets as not being completely aligned, that is only for illustration purposes. In actual use, the end sheets and flaps would overlap so that one sheet or flap is not visible or are only partly visible below the any end sheet or flap on top. To seal the stack of interleaved flaps, a strip <NUM> is fed through the eyelets of the array of posts, including eyelet <NUM> of post <NUM>. The strip <NUM> may be a high-strength fiber band with the effect of sewing the flaps and end sheets together and is initially held together by pressure exerted against the strip <NUM> as it sits between the eyelet <NUM> and the flap <NUM>. The flaps and end sheets would be further locked in place by pressure from water against the barrier. The spacing between the array of posts may depend on the stiffness of strip <NUM> such that strip <NUM> can maintain sufficient pressure on the stack of flaps between the posts to ensure a watertight seal along the entire length of the seam between barriers <NUM> and <NUM>.

In another embodiment, different numbers of flaps/end sheets may be used. For example, a total of three flaps could be used where the one barrier has one flap with posts and one flap with holes, and the neighboring barrier has only a single flap with holes. Fewer flaps may be sufficient for barriers with a shorter height <NUM> that need not withstand water pressure as high. Alternately, flood barriers with taller height <NUM> may have, for example, five or six flaps to be able to ensure a watertight seal under higher water pressure. A stack of six flaps could have three flaps (or two flaps plus a main sheet layer) on each side of the seam. In some embodiments, one end of each barrier may have an array of posts, while the opposite end of each barrier may only have holes, such that a series of barriers can be daisy-chained together to an create arbitrarily long barrier out of a series of identical standard length barriers.

Claim 1:
A flood barrier (<NUM>), comprising:
a wall (<NUM>) including a first flexible sheet and a plurality of parallel wall support members (<NUM>) embedded in the first flexible sheet;
a base (<NUM>) including a second flexible sheet and a plurality of parallel base support members (<NUM>) embedded in the second flexible sheet, wherein the first flexible sheet and the second flexible sheet are made of the same material and formed from a single continuous sheet;
a hinge (<NUM>) connecting the base to the wall, wherein the hinge is nothing more than a bend in the single continuous sheet;
at least one angle support member (<NUM>) configured to be fixed to a flooding side (<NUM>) of the flood barrier at the base and at the wall in an erected configuration, wherein the angle support member helps fix the angle at the hinge between the wall and the base, wherein the angle support member is fixed to the wall at least in part by fixing the angle support member to one of the plurality of wall support members or is fixed to the base at least in part by a fixing the angle support member to one of the plurality of base support members;
a first tether (<NUM>) from the base to the wall on a flooding side of the flood barrier preventing the wall from opening beyond a desired angle at the hinge between the wall and the base, the first tether having a first end coupled to a first support member of the plurality of wall support members and a second end coupled to a second support member of the plurality of base support members; and
wherein the at least one angle support member is configured (i) to act as a limiter to hold the wall up relative to the base in the erected configuration and ii), with the first tether, to act as a limiter to counteract a horizontal force of water after flooding;
wherein the flood barrier provides flood protection when in the erected configuration, and wherein the flood barrier is capable of closing to a collapsed configuration by bending at the hinge.