Technical Field

The present invention relates to a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile used for compacting the ground at the time of constructing structures including bridges and the like especially by employing steel pipe, which is designed to be safe and maintain strength thereof more simply at the time of providing steel reinforcing in forming concrete foundations with an upper portion of the steel pipe.

Background Art

In general, the compaction of the ground is required to increase the strength of soft ground when constructing bridges and buildings. The compaction may be accomplished by general driving, pile driving, and deep foundation driving.

Covering plate assemblies, especially, a head reinforced apparatus for the steel pipe pile are used to support loads of upper base structures when driving steel pipe piles. In case of the known covering plate assembly, a steel pipe is embedded into the ground and protruding out of the ground, and the covering plate assembly comprises an upper round plate and a lower reinforced plate so that it is attached to the steel pipe by welding after it is covered on the steel pipe.

Furthermore, a plurality of iron reinforcing bars, which are bent outwardly to easily bind them with other iron reinforcing bars, are evenly spaced and welded around the periphery of the upper round plate of the covering assembly. However, in case of the known covering assembly, it is more difficult to produce, as the iron reinforced bars or round bars are cut, bent and then welded to each other. Also,

as the iron reinforced bars or round bars and the round plate of the covering assembly are butt-welded at the respective sides, that is, sides of the round plate and sides of the round bars are welded with maintaining their respective round cross section to result in decrease of the attachment section to thereby fail in loads transfer.

Meanwhile, as the assembly and welding of the respective element including the iron reinforced bar and covering plate are directly carried out at the construction site to result in great difference in the allowance strength of the covering plate depending on the skillfulness of the worker, so that it is impossible to secure uniformity of the products quality.

Disclosure of Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made to overcome above-mentioned problems arising from prior technologies, and the object of the present invention is to provide a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile, in which not only durability but workability and economical efficiency at the construction can be improved by reinforcing the head of the steel pipe with steel structures and concretes to thereby accomplish sufficient supporting strength.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile, in which previous mass production is possible and assembly of the products is simple at the construction site to result in outstanding workability and economical efficiency at construction, and it is possible to assure equality of the products quality and provide incomparably improved strength in comparison with the known head reinforcing apparatus.

To accomplish above objects of the present invention, according to the first embodiment of the present invention,

there is provided a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile comprising an upper flange formed to protrude outwardly from a body along its periphery in such a fashion as to be in close contact with an upper surface of the steel pipe, engagement portions formed at predetermined intervals along a periphery of a body in such a fashion as to protrude inwardly from the body, each engagement portion having engagement hole formed therein, screw holes drilled along the periphery of the body at predetermined intervals, a round plate arranged at a lower portion of the steel pipe to coincide with an inner diameter of the steel pipe, supporting legs arranged to downwardly extend in a vertical direction from the body in such a fashion as to engage with the round plate, and attachment protrusions formed at both sides of the supporting legs .

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile comprising engagement portions formed at predetermined intervals along a periphery of a body in such a fashion as to protrude outwardly from the body and be in close contact with an upper surface of the steel pipe, each engagement portion having engagement hole formed therein, screw holes drilled along the periphery of the body at predetermined intervals, a round plate arranged at a lower portion of the steel pipe to coincide with an inner diameter of the steel pipe, supporting legs arranged to downwardly extend in a vertical direction from the body in such a fashion as to engage with the round plate, and attachment protrusions formed at both sides of the supporting legs . According to the third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile comprising an upper flange formed to protrude

outwardly from a body along its periphery in such a fashion as to be in close contact with an upper surface of the steel pipe, engagement portions formed continuously as an integral unit along a periphery of a body in such a fashion as to protrude inwardly from the body, each engagement portion having engagement hole formed therein, screw holes drilled along the periphery of the body at predetermined intervals, a round plate arranged at a lower portion of the steel pipe to coincide with an inner diameter of the steel pipe, supporting legs arranged to downwardly extend in a vertical direction from the body in such a fashion as to engage with the round plate, and attachment protrusions formed at both sides of the supporting legs.

According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile comprising engagement portions formed continuously as an integral unit along a periphery of a body in such a fashion as to protrude inwardly from the body, each engagement portion having engagement hole formed therein, screw holes drilled along the periphery of the body at predetermined intervals, a round plate arranged at a lower portion of the steel pipe to coincide with an inner diameter of the steel pipe, supporting legs arranged to downwardly extend in a vertical direction from the body in such a fashion as to engage with the round plate, and attachment protrusions formed at both sides of the supporting legs.

Furthermore, according to a preferred embodiment as shown in the drawings, a flange, a body, an engagement portion and supporting legs of an head reinforcing apparatus are formed to be an integral separated unit, and a plurality of such separated units are engaged with an inside surface of a steel pipe closely through screw holes to form a round shape,

and concrete is filled in a space defined between a round plate and the steel pipe.

Meanwhile, as shown in the drawings, according to the present invention, a body and supporting legs are fabricated separately so as to reduce difficulty arising in making molds, and they are made to engage with each other tightly at the construction site by simple assembly of them.

Brief Description of Drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exploded element in a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the first embodiment of the present invention, prior to its engagement with iron reinforced bars and steel pipe;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 at the time of engagement;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a separated unit in a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the second embodiment of the present invention, prior to its engagement with iron reinforced bars and steel pipe; FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 at the time of engagement;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another example of

a fitting portion in a supporting leg according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another example of a protrusion in a supporting leg according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a head rein¬ forced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a head rein- forced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the supporting leg;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the supporting leg;

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing engagement of a body and the supporting leg according to the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile of the present invention after they have been fabricated separately; FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment with regard to FIG. 15.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Preferred embodiments of the head reinforced apparatus for the steel pipe pile of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the appended drawings below.

FIGs. 1 and 2 are perspective view and cross sectional view respectively showing an exploded element in a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGs. 1 and 2, the head reinforced apparatus

for steel pipe pile according to the present invention is characterized by comprising an upper flange 11 formed to protrude outwardly from a body 18 along its periphery, engagement portions 12 formed at predetermined intervals along a periphery of a body 18 in such a fashion as to protrude inwardly from the body, each engagement portion having engagement hole 13 formed therein, screw holes N drilled along the periphery of the body 18 at predetermined intervals, a lower flange 16 formed to protrude inwardly from a body 18 along its periphery, supporting legs 14 arranged to downwardly extend in a vertical direction from the body 18 in such a fashion as to be in close contact with an inside surface of the steel pipe 100, attachment protrusions 15 formed at both sides of the supporting legs 14, and fitting portions 17 formed at ends of the supporting legs 14.

Four upper flanges 11 are formed outwardly along a periphery of the body 18, and safely engaged with an upper peripheral edge of the steel pipe 100, when the head reinforced apparatus of the present invention is to be mounted on the steel pipe 100. Although the number of the engagement holes 12 is shown to be four in FIG. 1, the number of the engagement holes 12 can be adjusted properly based on the number of vertical iron reinforcing bars in so far as there are no problems arising in the transfer of stress. The engagement portions 12 are formed inwardly from the body 18 in such a fashion as to be adjacent to the upper flange 11, each engagement portion having an engagement hole 13 formed therein, and vertical reinforcing steel bars 51 are engaged with the engagement holes 13. As shown in FIG. 2, a female thread is provided at inside surface of the engagement hole 13, and a bolt 54 is provided at an engagement portion 12 of the vertical

reinforcing steel bar 51, so that the engagement portion 12 of the vertical reinforcing steel bar 51 becomes to engage with the engagement hole 13 by the bolt 54. Although it is not shown directly in FIG. 2, the engagement portion 12 of the vertical iron reinforcing bar 51 can be also engaged with the engagement hole 13 by welding including a stud welding and the like in addition to bolt 54 engagement.

A plurality of screw holes N are drilled along the body 18 at predetermined intervals so that the body 18 can be engaged with the steel pipe 100 tightly and closely by means of a pin or the high tension bolt 54.

The lower flange 16 is formed inwardly from a lower portion of the body 18 along its periphery. This increases attachment force produced between the head reinforced apparatus of the present invention and the concretes filled inside thereof to thereby enhance resistant force against the action of the concretes and the like to result in improvement of the supporting strength of the head reinforced apparatus.

The supporting legs 14 are formed to extend downwardly from the upper flange 11 of the body 18, and attachment protrusions 15 are formed at sides of the supporting legs 14 in order to enhance attachment force.

The attachment protrusions 15 are formed to be rectangular shape, and can be formed at both sides of the supporting legs 14 so that they are positioned alternately to each other and they are three for respective supporting leg. The number of the attachment protrusions can be adjusted properly based on the length of the supporting leg 14.

The fitting portion 17 is formed at lower end of the respective supporting leg 14 as "C" shape. A round plate 53, which is to be described below, can be easily engaged with the supporting legs 14 via the fitting portions 17, and sufficient

stress can be transferred.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the first embodiment of the present invention, at the time of all the separated units being assembled. As shown in FIG. 3, workability of the construction during the field works can be greatly improved because it is possible to construct the complete head reinforcing apparatus easily by assembling the respective separated unit into a complete round shape. In FIG. 3, the head reinforced apparatus is shown to be composed of four separated units, however, it can be composed of three separated unit or more than five separated units. It is most preferable to be composed of four separated units, in view of the workability in the work field. FIG. 4 is a exploded perspective view showing the first embodiment of the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe piles of the present invention, wherein it is engaged with the vertical iron reinforcing bar 51 at an upper portion and it is engaged with the steel pipe 100 at a lower portion thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, engagement portions 12 are formed at inside periphery of the body 18 at predetermined intervals, each engagement portion 12 having engagement hole 13 formed therein. The vertical iron reinforcing bars 51 are engaged with the engagement holes 13 by bolt 54 or welding including a stud welding and the like.

The fitting portion 17 is provided at a lower end of the supporting leg 14. The supporting leg 14 easily engages with the round plate 53 via groove formed at the fitting portion 17 tightly. Furthermore, the screw holes N are drilled at the body 18 along its outer peripheral surface at predetermined intervals, and the screw holes n are drilled at the steel pipe

100 in such a fashion as to correspond to the screw holes N drilled at the body 18 in terms of position and number.

Pins or high tension bolts 54 are inserted into the screw holes N drilled through the periphery of the body 18 and the screw holes n drilled through the steel pipe 100 so that the outer peripheral surface of the body 18 can be tightly engaged with the inside peripheral surface of the steel pipe 100.

The body 18 and the steel pipe 100 can be engaged by welding after the pins or the bolts 54 are inserted and nuts are engaged with the bolts, however, this type of engagement is also considered to be pertained to the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG.4, at the state of engagement. As shown in FIG. 5, the upper flange 11 is closely contacted with the peripheral edge of the steel pipe 100 by the engagement of its lower surface. Also, the vertical iron reinforcing bars 51 are engaged with the engagement portions 12 by bolts 54 or welding. The supporting legs 14 is closely contacted with an inside surface of the steel pipe 100 at an outer side, and is provided with attachment protrusions 15 at other side. The fitting portion 17 of the supporting leg 14 is inserted and fitted into a groove formed at the round plate 53 so that the round plate 53 can engage with an inside diameter of the steel pipe 100.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a separated body unit of the head reinforced apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the head reinforced apparatus is characterized by comprising engagement portions 12 formed along a periphery of the body 18

at predetermined intervals in such a fashion as to be engaged with and seated on an upper end of a peripheral edge of the steel pipe 100, each engagement portion having an engagement hole 13 formed outwardly therein, screw holes drilled at predetermined intervals along the periphery of the body 18, supporting legs 14 formed downwardly from the body 18 in the vertical direction and arranged in such a fashion as to be closely contact with an inside surface of the steel pipe 100, and attachment protrusions 15 integrally provided at both sides of the supporting legs 14.

Although it is identical with the first embodiment in that engagement portions 12, wherein engagement holes 13 are drilled downwardly there-through, are formed along the periphery of the body 18 at predetermined intervals, the engagement portions 12 are formed to protrude outwardly from the body 18 so that they can operate as the upper flange 11. Accordingly, the lower surfaces of the engagement portions 12 can be engaged with the upper end of the peripheral edge of the steel pipe 100 in such a fashion as to be in close contact with it.

As described in the first embodiment of the present invention, screw holes N are drilled along the periphery of the body 18 at predetermined intervals, lower flange 16 is provided at the body 18, and supporting legs 14 are formed to extend downwardly in the vertical direction from the body, each supporting leg having attachment protrusions formed alternately therein.

PIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the second embodiment of the present invention, prior to its engagement with the upper reinforcing steel bars 51 and the lower steel pipe 100. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of FIG.

7 at the time of engagement. This embodiment features that it is not required to separately provide an upper flange 11 with the body 18, because engagement portions 12 are formed to protrude outwardly from the body 18 so that they are made to be in close contact with the peripheral edge of the steel pipe 100, except for the engagement hole 13 being formed therein as is in the first embodiment .

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view showing another example of a fitting portion in the supporting leg shown in FIGs. 1 and 6.

As shown in FIG. 9, the fitting portion 17 is formed as T-shape in contrast to the fore-mentioned embodiments of the present invention. The supporting legs 14 are engaged with the round plate 53 by rotating 90 degrees after inserting the fitting portion 17 into a groove formed at the round plate 53.

Accordingly, it is possible to carry the head reinforcing apparatus engaged with the round plate 53, and to prevent the supporting legs from being separated from the round plate 53 during the construction. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another example of a protrusion in a supporting leg according to the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, four attachment protrusions 15 are formed along the longitudinal direction to protrude in such a fashion as to be in bilateral symmetry. This construction improves the attachment strength of the supporting legs 14 to the concrete.

As shown in FIGs. 1, 3 and 10, the attachment protrusions 15 of the supporting legs 14 are formed to be rectangular shape, and are provided in the longitudinal direction of the supporting legs 14 or in the horizontal vertical direction. The attachment protrusions 15 can be

formed in a semi-circular shape, triangular shape and the like instead of the rectangular shape. Regardless of the shape, they identically operate to increase the attachment strength of the supporting legs 14 to the concrete. PIGs. 11 and 12 are perspective views showing a head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile according to the third and fourth embodiments of the present invention.

According to the embodiments shown in FIGs. 11 and 12, engagement portions 12 are characterized in that they are formed integrally in the separated units continuously, in comparison with the above embodiments wherein the engagement portions 12 are formed along the periphery of the body 18 at predetermined intervals.

In case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the integrally and continuously formed engagement portions 12 protrude inwardly from the body 18, and in case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, as the integrally formed engagement portions 12 protrude outwardly from the body 18, it is not necessary to provide separate upper flange 11 with the body 18.

As shown in FIGs. 11 and 12, when engagement portions 12 are formed integrally and continuously at the body, it is more effective in transfer of the vertical load imparted to the piles, in comparison with the engagement portions 12 formed intermittently at predetermined intervals along the periphery of the body.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the supporting leg wherein an opening 80 is drilled. As shown in FIG. 13, concretes filled in the steel pipe 100 can be refilled into a space made by the opening 80, when the opening 80 is drilled at the supporting leg 14 along the longitudinal direction. As a result, it is possible to improve the

attachment strength of the supporting leg 14 to the concrete, and it is more advantageous in fabricating molds and the like in comparison with the formation of the attachment protrusions 15. FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the supporting leg, wherein the attachment protrusions 15 or openings 80 are not formed at the supporting legs 14. When the supporting legs 14 may be acknowledged to provide sufficient attachment strength required for the members without any attachment protrusion 15 or opening 80 formed at the supporting leg 14, as shown in the drawings, it is possible to reduce difficulty arising from the unnecessary mold fabrication to thereby improve productivity and workability without any attachment protrusion 15 or opening 80 formed at the supporting leg 14.

Meanwhile, the supporting leg 14 shown in FIGs. 13 and 14 is only applicable to the first embodiment of the present invention wherein engagement portions 12 are formed inwardly from the body 18. The present invention can be applied to the above described second, third and the fourth embodiments and the like, but not limited to the above first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing assembly of a body and the supporting leg according to the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile of the present invention after they have been fabricated separately.

As shown in FIG. 15, the body 18 and the supporting leg 14 are fabricated separately and they are assembled easily at construction site. Engagement openings 61 are drilled at bottom surface of the body 18, and engagement protrusions 71 are formed at the upper end of the body 18 so that they can be inserted and fitted into the openings 61. The bottom surface

of the body 18 and the lower flange 16 can be made to closely contact with the upper surface of the supporting leg 14 by engagement of the openings 61 and the engagement protrusions 71. FIG. 16 shows another embodiment shown in the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile shown in FIG. 15. As shown in the drawing, T-shaped engagement grooves 62 are formed at the bottom surface of the body 18, and T-shaped engagement protrusions 72 are formed at upper end of the supporting legs 14 so as to be inserted into and engaged with the T-shaped engagement grooves 62 of the body 18. The supporting legs 14 are inserted horizontally into and engaged with the body 18 so that the bottom surface of the body 18 and the lower flange 16 and the upper surface of the supporting legs 14 can be made to be in close contact with each other.

It is possible to improve workability and uniformity of quality incomparably, because the body 18 and the supporting legs 14 shown in FIGs. 15 and 16 are fabricated separately at the manufacturing factory and they are assembled into the head reinforced apparatus of the present invention at construction site by the usual workers without any assistance from the skilled workers.

Meanwhile, when the attachment protrusions 15 are formed or openings 80 are drilled at the supporting legs 14, the concrete should be flowed to every corners of the space defined between the supporting legs and the body and filled fully so that the attachment strength of the supporting legs 14 to the concrete can be improved. For this purpose, chemical admixture such as AE water reducing agent and the like can be added into the concrete to secure fluidity of the concrete, and self compacting concrete can be employed so as to improve gap filling property.

Furthermore, although the first embodiment of the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile of the present invention is shown in FIGs. 15 and 16, wherein engagement portions 12 are formed inwardly from the body 18, however, it can be sure to be applied to the second, the third, and the fourth embodiments of the present invention and the like.

Also, the above described embodiments of the present invention feature that integrally fabricated separated units can be assembled and engaged with the round plate 53 and fitted into the steel pipe 100 to thereby reinforce the head of the steel pipe 100, and further feature that the concrete filled in the space defined between the steel pipe 100 and the round plate 53 and the head reinforced apparatus of the present invention is cured.

Industrial Applicability- According to the present invention described as above and shown in the drawings, the head reinforced apparatus for steel pipe pile can be fabricated simply by assembling integral reinforcing unit made separately at the construction site, to thereby enable simple and quick construction of structures.

Further, it is possible to attain equality of products quality by engaging the upper vertical iron reinforcing bars with the engagement portion previously provided at the head reinforcing apparatus.

Meanwhile, when the body and supporting legs are fabricated separately, it is possible to reduce difficulty arising in making molds, and as they can be assembled simply at the construction site by usual workers to thereby secure workability and uniformity of quality. Especially, according to the head reinforced apparatus of the present invention, as

the elements of the apparatus are supplied to the construction site after they have been fabricated previously at manufacturing factory, it is possible to produce the separated units massively to thereby shorten the period of the construction works effectively.

Although the present invention has been described with regard to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention by those peoples skilled in the relevant art.

Accordingly, the appended claims are expected to include such changes and modifications pertaining to the true scope of the present invention.