DESCRIPTION

Technical field of the Invention

In general, the field of application of the present invention concerns the topic of good practices that can be adopted in the construction of roads, also taking into consideration the fact that any road requires adequate consolidation, not only in the road substrate, as normally happens, but also in the roadsides.

In fact, the roadside, or the so-called road quay, must be considered part of the road system, and the characteristics of this part of the road have a great influence on the general safety.

Prior Art

The so-called yielding quays are in all respects considered a dangerous factor for road traffic, so much so that special signs are provided which should warn travelers about it, when the verge of the road on which they are traveling is not adequately stabilized.

Furthermore, the road quays, or the edge of the road in general, constitute the place where the safety barriers, also called "guardrails" (a term that will be mainly used in the following of this description) are installed.

The "guardrails", in fact, constitute an element of great importance in the event of accidents, and they are essential for ensuring road safety. In fact, in addition to clearly delimiting the edge of the road, they have the purpose of significantly reducing the consequences of accidents, preventing or limiting the exit of vehicles from the road.

The main function of a "guardrail" is therefore to ensure the safety of a road: for this reason they must comply with adequate mechanical standards.

Compliance with these standards, which allow the barrier to be declared in compliance with the law, must be certified. Typically, this takes place through real tests (hereinafter also called "crashtests"), by subjecting a "guardrail", placed in a realistic installation context, to collisions with vehicles. It should be noted that a correct interpretation of the norm should concern not only the safety barrier itself, but also its installation: in essence, although the manufacturers of road barriers supply their barriers with appropriate certification, what really guarantees for the road safety, is not just the barrier, but the whole system composed of the road, the barrier and how this is actually installed in different real cases.

Specifically, a "guardrail" must prevent vehicles from going off the road and overturning, to avoid dangerous collisions with other vehicles and/or elements outside the road and, at the same time, it must be able to absorb and dissipate the kinetic energy of the vehicle at the moment of the impact, entirely or at least in significant part; by reducing in a controlled way the decelerations induced by the impact to the occupants of the vehicle, and allowing the gradual return of the vehicle towards the roadway by stopping it, if possible, near the roadside.

These behaviors of the "guardrail" can be achieved in different ways, focusing on the solidity of the installation, providing that the uprights of the "guardrail" deform, but do not detach from the ground, or also providing that some of these uprights detach from the ground, but only when hit by a shock with an energy higher than a predetermined value. These different strategies may depend on the terrain on which the "guardrail" is installed, but also on the specific safety requirements that are required in individual cases: it is clear that a road placed on the edge of a precipice, or on the embankment of a river, should prioritize the objective of preventing exits from the road, while a road with free land on the sides can be safer if vehicles affected by an accident are allowed to stop their travel outside the carriageway, and the function of a "guardrail" is only to absorb a part of the kinetic energy of the vehicle that is going off the road.

The real safety requirements and, consequently, the norms that should guarantee these requirements, therefore, can be respected in many ways, and what must be evaluated is the overall result, which concerns a road as a whole, equipped with suitable safety barriers. The control of the combined effect between the mechanical strength (aimed at containing the vehicle), the elastic-plastic deformability (aimed at reducing the decelerations induced by the impact, by controlling the dissipation of kinetic energy) and the breakage, or detachment, of some elements of the "guardrail", poses a significant and not simple technical problem for the construction and installation of these road safety barriers. Common practice, based on the prior art, does not adequately consider these safety aspects, and it is not uncommon that, in the event of an accident, the subject responsible for the management of the road is also responsible for the consequences of such an accident.

In fact, it is quite frequent that the "guardrails" installed along the roads do not meet the technical safety requirements according to the rule, because their installation does not reflect the certification conditions, with serious risk for the consequences of any accidents.

On the other hand, the huge variety of installation conditions makes it very difficult to build roads in which the installation conditions of the "guardrail" are actually homogeneous and controllable. In summary, it can be stated that the prior art is satisfactory from the point of view of the materials and elements that are used to make the "guardrail", intended as a product certified by authorized bodies, while the aspect concerning its installation still remains substantially unresolved, as it often does not replicate the certification conditions of the "crash-test".

In conclusion, a good number of installed "guardrails" do not meet the real safety requirements, due to differences in installation, and above all due to the unpredictability and variety of characteristics offered by the terrain of which the road verges are made up.

In this regard, a paradox that affects the currently adopted certification processes deserves to be highlighted. In fact, it is required a strict observance of rules in the fact that, in the face of every, even small, modification to the product "guardrail" as such, a new certification is always required with repetition of an entire "crash test", while with reference to the conditions of the roadsides, which are much more uncertain, and decisive in terms of safety, there is not as much attention to adopting regulatory instruments to guarantee safety.

It should also be noted that the so-called "crash tests", indispensable for obtaining the certification of a "guardrail", are extremely onerous tests, to the point that often, for purely economic reasons, they represent a brake on the introduction, in certain "guardrails", of modifications which would certainly improve it, but which do not justify the cost of repeating the certification tests.

The result is that the scenarios of real roads, equipped with safety barriers according to the prior art, are typically characterized by the presence of a very significant number of "guardrails" installed in terrains where, on closer inspection, installation problems can be found due to poor soil retention.

A typical situation where installation compromises the fulfillment of adequate safety standards is considered in more detail below. This is the widespread case in which the uprights of a "guardrail" are driven into the ground by means of a maneuver performed with a so-called "pile-driving machine". This maneuver consists in positioning the upright of the "guardrail" vertically at the point where it must be driven into the ground, after which, with a mechanically operated mallet, this is beaten from above and driven into the ground (normally at a depth more or less equivalent to the part emerging over the ground).

This installation technique has its main advantage in the speed and simplicity of installation. The upright typically used in such cases has an essentially linear structure, consisting of a bar with a constant profile, at least in the part that is infixed underground.

On the other hand, the stability of the installation largely depends on the compactness and characteristics of the ground which, if not particularly compact, modifies the behavior of the road barrier in the event of a vehicle collision: in many cases, in fact, the uprights, when they are not firmly fixed in the ground, following an impact with a vehicle, they tend to rotate rigidly in the ground, instead of bending, reducing their deformation capacity and therefore their ability to absorb and dissipate the necessary amount of kinetic energy. Furthermore, the uprights driven into the ground normally have very different behaviors according to the trait of road in which they are planted, with consequent different performances with respect to the safety they can guarantee.

The prior art proposes some solutions that aim to overcome this problem linked to installation inhomogeneities, a problem due to the fixing of the "guardrails" to the ground, on roads whose edge is made up of soils whose compactness cannot be controlled with the necessary precision.

Some solutions envisage the use of uprights whose part that must be fixed to the ground has a suitable shape to guarantee greater stability, for example using uprights associated with an enlarged plate which makes a greater quantity of soil collaborate in the tightness of the upright, when the " guardrail” is subjected to a violent impact caused by an accident. These solutions based on the use of uprights, whose conformation of the part to be buried is of an appropriate shape, make the fixing to the ground more solid, but do not solve the problem of installation inhomogeneity; moreover, they provide particularly improved performance the more compact the ground is; while they produce an almost negligible effect precisely in cases in which they would be more needed, i.e. , in installations on poorly compacted soils.

More interesting, as will be illustrated further on, are the solutions that envisage the use of anchors that grip the ground below the road surface.

The interest derives from the fact that the soil under the road surface is normally compacted in order to avoid subsidence of the roadway due to the weight of passing vehicles. It is clear that such an inconvenience (i.e., the subsidence of the roadway) must be absolutely avoided, and therefore the foundation on which the roads are built is always suitably prepared and, in particular, is pressed so as to make it very compact.

However, all these solutions require that the barriers, comprehensive of their eventual anchoring systems, are certified as a whole. Therefore, since all these forms of anchoring are conceivable in many forms and variations, the number of certifications required is very significant.

Furthermore, interventions on barriers already installed appear further problematic, as it would involve intervening with modifications on systems that already have their own certification.

A further problem, which is currently largely neglected, consists in managing the different characteristics of the road quays, which vary along a road from a trait to another.

In fact, the characteristics of the roadsides are very variable along the roadway, and even if one wanted to make the effort to choose, from time to time, the most suitable "guardrail" for the particular characteristics of the roadside, it would be necessary to resort to a design that was too detailed to indicate (in theory almost meter by meter) the type of "guardrail" or anchorage to be adopted along the entire road route, and this would obviously be excessively expensive.

The perspective that is proposed in this patent application is in itself innovative, and consists in intervening directly in the control of the characteristics, in term of tightness, of the road shoulder, aiming to obtain shoulders with homogeneous characteristics and, above all, very good. Effectively, it must be said that the consolidation of the roadsides is not, in itself, a completely new initiative; however, it is not widespread due to its onerousness.

In general, operations aimed at consolidating the road quays are carried out when the road is being built and subsequently these are almost never repeated for maintenance purposes, except in cases of subsidence in which it is evidently necessary to carry out restoration interventions.

Furthermore, these restoration interventions are always very invasive and require the complete removal of the safety barriers (in some cases also the demolition, at least in part, of the road pavement), redoing the road shoulder, and subsequently reinstalling the safety barrier. Evidently, these restoration interventions are carried out only in fairly short stretches of road and only when the necessity is absolutely imperative.

The problem of consolidating the terrain, in order to make it suitable for supporting any civil construction, is a topic of general interest, in fact it is not a problem that is encountered only in the context of road construction. Therefore, the known art proposes various technological solutions, which can also be considered for the consolidation of road shoulders: however, it is necessary to take due account of the peculiarities of the road application context.

Before citing some examples of application of these technological solutions, it is convenient to summarize the nature of some basic technologies which appear to be of particular interest, and which will be used in the context of the present invention.

In fact, some resinous substances suitable for being infiltrated into the ground have been chemically synthesized to essentially achieve two effects.

A first effect which can be obtained by making use of these resins is an expanding effect; and when said chemically synthesized resins are used to obtain this effect, they are called "expansive resins". These expansive resins can be stored in a fluid state so that they can be injected, through suitable pipes with a section of the order of one centimeter, deep into the ground. As soon as they are injected, these expansive resins expand very quickly, increasing their volume quite a lot before solidifying. Several existing products, available on the market, differ for their capacity and speed of expansion, for the type of soil in which their operation is more effective, for the consistency of the expanded solidified material, which can be more or less rigid, and with different mechanical properties, or for other characteristics. In any case, the expanding effect that can be obtained is decidedly significant, and can be quantified in the order of a multiplier of some units. A second effect is the consolidating one; and when these chemically synthesized resins are used to obtain this second effect, they are precisely called "consolidating resins". These consolidating resins can also be understood as a variant of the expansive resins, but differ essentially in the way they are used. Consolidating resins are also storable in a fluid state, and are generally fluid enough so that they can be injected into the soil by impregnating it and mixing with it. In many cases, it should be noted, the consolidating effect depends in a determined way on the type of soil that is impregnated, and the choice of a consolidating resin must therefore always be made taking into due consideration the characteristics of the soil on which it is injected. In fact, these consolidating resins, before consolidating, must have time to infiltrate the soil like a liquid, impregnating it, even at a significant distance from the injection point. In a short time, as these consolidating resins dry, they produce the effect of consolidating the soil they have impregnated, making that soil a much more cohesive block than it was before the treatment: a block that is difficult to crumble.

Even in the case of these consolidating resins, it is possible to regulate their mechanical properties: more fluid resins are evidently more suitable for infiltrating more into the soil where they are injected, while other chemical properties determine the degree of cohesion that can be obtained in the impregnated soil.

A very interesting feature of these consolidating resins is given by the fact that they mix very well with various types of soil and also infiltrate relatively far from the injection point affecting quantities of soil that can be surprisingly significant. Furthermore, the block of soil near the injection point, which is consolidated, does not behave as a block separated from the surrounding soil, because the cohesive properties gradually weaken as you move away from the injection point. Basically, by consolidating a portion of the ground on which a post is planted, using such consolidating resins, a completely different effect is obtained from what would be obtained by building a concrete foundation for that post: in the case of concrete, in fact, if the surrounding ground was very friable, on the border between the concrete block, which forms the foundation, and the ground, an area of mechanical weakness forms, so that, if the post is pushed hard, it moves together with the foundation block, this is why, in such cases, there is a tendency to create very voluminous foundations, because the opposition to lateral thrusts is substantially attributable to the mass to be moved, and therefore to the additional weight given by the foundation.

If the ground is instead treated with a consolidating resin, the force exerted on the pole is not transferred rigidly to areas of particular mechanical weakness (because these in fact do not exist) and it is transferred instead gradually (therefore distributing itself) throughout the volume of the soil treated with the consolidating resin.

The applications of these synthetic resins (expanding or consolidating) can be innumerable and of great interest. For this reason, a technological development is underway, which aims to generally improve the performance of these resins. It is therefore foreseeable that, in addition to the products already present on the market, others may be added as progress in this sector evolves. In order to implement the teachings of the present invention, reference will be made to these products, both the existing ones and those which can reasonably be expected in an evolutionary context.

However, here we do not dwell further on the characteristics of these expanding and/or consolidating resins, which are not, as such, the object of the present invention. It only takes note of their availability in mature form, and therefore usable in large scale real applications. Instead, the invention focuses on a roadside consolidation system that uses the technology made up of these resins.

A clear demonstration of the availability of the technology made up of resins of this type is given by numerous applications in the field of civil works.

Applications of expanding resins are mainly concentrated on problems of contrasting soil subsidence, or for making tie rods with anchorages to be made in depth.

Typical applications of consolidating resins, on the other hand, concern the treatment of soils to prevent them from collapsing, or to harden them in order to create a foundation on which to build or plant something. A couple of patents are cited below, purely as an example, they indicate how to use the synthetic resin technologies described above to offer solutions to technical problems in the construction or maintenance of civil works.

EP 0 851 064 A1 “Method for increasing the bearing capacity of foundation soils for buildings”, proposes the use of expanding resins, to be injected vertically in various points of a soil in order to compact it. In this case the expanding material (in this patent application it is envisaged to use a resin with an expansion coefficient of at least 5) produces the effect of compressing and compacting the soil surrounding the injection, and therefore the method is proposed as an alternative to the soil pressing methods to be carried out with heavy machinery, and offers an intelligent solution which allows the soil to be compacted fairly evenly even in depth, up to the injection depth: it therefore appears to be a very effective compacting method for preventing subsidence phenomena when the weight of the building to be constructed is very high.

WO 2005/045137 A1 “Method for increasing the strength of a volume of soil, particularly for containing and supporting excavation faces”, proposes a different application, aimed, as the title itself says, at preventing the subsidence of the vertical faces of the ground during excavation works.

In the specific field of road safety, however, there are no applications that make use of these technologies.

After all, the road sector proposes very specific problems, it concerns works dimensionally very large, in which it is extremely fundamental to use technologies of rapid and practical installation, with an exaggerated attention to costs, and in which the specific technical effect which must be produced by each individual component of the road system as a whole is always well defined.

Description of the Invention

The general purpose of the present invention is focused on the consolidation of roadsides. This consolidation, in turn, is not intended as an end in itself, but has the specific purpose of making the fixing to the ground of the road safety barriers firmly when the latter are installed by driving their vertical elements (commonly called uprights) into the ground. In particular, the invention aims to indicate a system of consolidation of the road quay which allows to achieve the specific purpose previously set out, even by intervening after the installation of the road barrier. In other words, a system is required that can also be used in roads where the "guardrails" are already installed, without however requiring the consolidation intervention to physically interact with the barrier itself.

A further purpose of the present invention is also helping to make the installation of "guardrails" homogeneous in the roads where these are installed by driving their uprights into the roadside ground; that is, on terrains which, very often, do not have homogeneous characteristics of compactness and tightness along the entire road layout.

It is important that the indicated consolidation system acts directly only on the characteristics of the ground, making them optimal for effective installation of any type of "guardrail", each with or without its own certification, which, when present, must not be invalidated or compromised as a result of the use and installation of the consolidation system according to the invention.

These objectives can be achieved by means of a road quay consolidation system consisting of one or more consolidation groups designed to be installed, each, in the vicinity of a vertical body infixed into the ground of which said road quay is made (which you want to remain firmly fixed even if stressed by forces that impinge on it laterally). Each of said one or more consolidation groups comprises at least one injection cannula suitable for being driven into the ground as well as one or more consolidation straws, shorter than said injection cannula, and also suitable to be driven into the ground.

And said road quay consolidation system is characterized in that: said at least one injection cannula has at least one injection hole in the vicinity of its distal end with respect to the point of insertion on the surface and, when fixed in the ground, it is suitable to be used to inject into the ground, through said injection hole, a resin with expansive properties, i.e. , a resin that in the transition from the fluid state to the solid state increases its volume by at least double; and said one or more consolidation straws each have one or more dispensing holes, and when they are driven into the ground, they are suitable for irrigating, through said holes, the ground in which they are driven, with a resin having consolidating properties, i.e. , a resin that is fluid enough to soak the soil in the area where it is injected, before consolidating.

In the preferred embodiments, which are also the typical embodiments, said road quay consolidation system is characterized in that said one or more consolidation straws, included in the same consolidation group, when driven into the ground, are connected to each other and to said at least one injection cannula included in the same consolidation group, when it is also driven into the ground, this connection being implemented by means of a connecting element designed to oppose that said consolidation straws move away from each other and from said injection cannula.

It is clear that, in the case of a typical application, these vertical bodies, which one wishes to remain firmly fixed even when stressed by forces which impact them laterally, are the uprights of the "guardrails"; and each of these independent consolidation groups is generally composed of an injection cannula connected to a plurality of consolidation straws which are planted in the ground around these uprights. It should be noted that when one of these consolidation groups is driven into the ground near a previously fixed vertical body (in the typical case a "guardrail" upright), it is possible to obtain the desired result very effectively and quickly.

In fact, by injecting a consolidating resin into the ground by means of said consolidation straws, it is possible to obtain a consolidation effect of the soil in the most superficial part, i.e., up to the depth in which said consolidation straws are driven (which are shorter than the injection cannula). There is therefore the formation of a block of soil with good characteristics of compactness and cohesion, the size of which also depends on the number and arrangement of the consolidation straws.

Furthermore, by injecting the expansive resin through said injection cannula, it is possible to generate a bulb of expanded solidified resin at the distal end of said injection cannula, which is located at a greater depth where the ground is typically more compact than on the surface. There is therefore the formation of a sort of anchor rod, formed by the cannula itself, which acts as an element that works in tension, and by the expanded resin bulb, which acts as an anchor element to the ground in depth.

Said anchor rod, being structurally connected to the consolidation straws, therefore provides, as a whole, to provide a firm anchorage for the whole block of soil consolidated on the surface, as previously described (i.e. , by injecting consolidating resin into the consolidation straws).

The entire described operation produces the desired effect of providing compact soil in the area where the vertical body is driven, whose infixion is desired to be firm, and of making sure that even the consolidated soil does not move en-bloc, being also well anchored to the deepest part of the ground.

The embodiment of the present invention which makes use of the chemical properties of certain resins that can be injected into the ground is an embodiment which is representative of a new approach to the problem of ground consolidation, in the zones where the uprights of a "guardrail" must be fixed. In fact, the principle on which the solution is based is generalizable and unprecedented, and it can be summarized in the following two points:

1. mechanical hardening of the soil on the surface, in the area where each post is infixed,

2. anchoring of the clod of hardened soil, which is relatively limited in size, so that it does not move as a whole when the upright is hit by a strong impact.

The general technical problem (as well as the scope of the invention) is then broken down into two simpler problems.

The first intervention, which consists in hardening the ground around the area where the post is infixed is easy to carry out but it is not decisive by itself, because a violent impact on the post is typically sufficient to dislocate/move the whole clod of hardened ground, especially if this is not overly large.

The second problem, on the other hand, is a classic problem of deep anchoring, and even this intervention alone would not be decisive, because the anchors in general can guarantee good performances against translations, lifting or sliding out of the infixed bodies, but fail to offer performance against all degrees of freedom and they generally allow rotations, while, in the case of the uprights of a guardrail, the deformation of the uprights following a collision is sought, and not their rotation (which instead tends to occur if these are only held by an anchor).

Therefore, the invention that can be implemented with the consolidation system based on the exploitation of particular chemical substances (known substances, and already used to be injected into the ground), can be generalized, and the two fundamental functions that can be obtained with a deeper injection cannula (anchoring), and with a system of consolidation straws (hardening), can be functions also achievable with other methods.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The main advantage of the present invention consists in the fact that the road quay consolidation system made according to the essential teachings of the present invention satisfies all the main requirements for which it was designed; in particular by effectively consolidating just the parts of the ground that must be more consistent to ensure the optimal fixing of a "guardrail" to the ground, installed by driving its uprights.

Furthermore, this invention also has further advantages, which will become more evident from the following description, from some examples of practical embodiments which illustrate further details, from the attached claims which form an integral part of the present description, and from the attached figures in which: Figures 1a and 1b show the main elements of a road safety barrier ("guardrail") according to the prior art; Figures 2a and 2b show a "guardrail" according to the prior art, fixed to the base by driving the uprights into the ground, in two different installation cases; Figure 3 shows an overall view of a consolidation group according to the invention, installed in correspondence with a guardrail upright; Figure 4 shows an example of a detail of a possible form of implementation of a consolidation group according to the invention.

Detailed Description

As said several times, the road quay consolidation system according to the invention is not a generic ground consolidation system, but a consolidation system designed to reinforce the ground on which "guardrails" are installed by driving, and therefore, it is useful to briefly summarize how the "guardrails" involved in the application of the invention are composed, and what are some of the installation problems that are intended to be managed by means of the present invention.

Figure 1a shows a section of a typical road safety barrier (also called "guardrail"), indicated as a whole with the number 200. This barrier is seen from inside the road and, in general, is made up of the elements listed below:

• substantially vertical elements, normally called uprights, which support the barrier itself, and indicated (always and also in the following figures) with the number 210;

• a horizontal containment metal strip, indicated with the number 230, also called horizontal blockout bar;

• a possible upper beam, indicated with the number 240.

The uprights 210, in a typical and widespread installation method, are fixed to the base by driving them into the ground. The number 300 indicates the ground where the "guardrail" is installed, in the cases considered by the present invention.

Said horizontal blockout bar 230 is only partially shown in the figure since it is a very long element which, in addition to carrying out the function of containment of the vehicles, connects a sequence of uprights 210 to each other, also giving them greater strength. In fact, if one or more uprights 210 were to be torn apart by the effect of a violent impact from a vehicle, said horizontal blockout bar 230 would remain connected to the other adjacent uprights 210, however limiting, albeit to a lesser extent, the exit of the vehicle. Since it is an element of non-predefined length, said horizontal blockout bar 230 is necessarily composed of a sequence of segments connected to each other. In Figure 1a, the numbers 231 and 232 show two segments of the horizontal blockout bar 230 connected together by bolting, as occurs in the vast majority of cases. In the case of Figure 1a, this bolting is performed with four bolts indicated with the number 233; however, other connection methods are also possible; what matters is that the connection between the segments is very solid, so that the horizontal blockout bar 230 behaves substantially as a single and continuous body, and guarantees the appropriate mechanical certification performance.

This first overview of the various elements that make up a "guardrail" immediately highlights how, in the context of practical installations, the assembly of the various pieces frequently requires adaptations to be made on site, even if just to follow the curves of the layout or the slope changes. Therefore, in general, although the pitch with which the uprights must be planted must be as regular as possible, it cannot realistically be precise to the centimeter, and therefore, the various uprights are planted by choosing the exact driving point on site. This practical necessity effectively excludes the possibility of predetermining exact points to be prepared for the fastening of the uprights during the construction of a road. Consequently, either the road embankment is made up as a whole of compact ground with excellent stability, or, inevitably, cases arise in which a consolidation intervention may become necessary even after the installation of the "guardrail": that is, when one realizes that one or more uprights have been driven into a fragile ground; and this awareness cannot be excluded that it can only explicitly manifest itself at the time of installation of the "guardrail".

Figure 1 b shows the same guardrail 200 shown in Figure 1a, but it is seen in a section orthogonal to the direction of the road; the numbers indicate the same elements as in Figure 1a. Figure 1b also allows viewing a spacer element between the upright 210 and the horizontal blockout bar 230. Said spacer element, indicated with the number 220, has the main function of connecting the horizontal blockout bar 230 with the upright 210, and plays an important role in determining the performance of the guardrail as a whole.

Another feature, which can be appreciated from the view of Figure 1b, is the profile of the horizontal blockout bar 230. This profile is the result of a long evolutionary process and has the advantage of guaranteeing an excellent compromise between mechanical performance and costs, reason why said horizontal blockout bar 230 is a very consolidated element, whose operating principles have not been the subject of many innovations in recent times.

It has already been stated, and it should be reiterated also at this point of the description, that the mechanical performances of road safety barriers according to the known art are satisfactory, and that it is difficult to introduce innovations which strictly concern the structure of the element " guardrail”, innovations that can justify new certification processes. However, such mechanical performances are really satisfactory only when the safety barriers can actually operate under nominal conditions, because only under such conditions all the parts of the "guardrail system" (meaning all its component parts briefly summarized with the help of Figures 1a and 1 b) operate according to design specifications when an accident occurs and the barrier is subjected to severe impacts.

As already mentioned above, there are various ways in which the performance of a "guardrail" can be tested: ranging from laboratory tests to real tests in which a real vehicle simulates an accident and hits the "guardrail". The real tests are certainly the most significant, as they clearly show whether the "guardrail" performs its function of containing a vehicle that is going off the road and stops its movement at a point which minimizes the dangerous consequences of the simulated accident. These "crash-tests" are certainly significantly expensive tests and, by now in many countries of the world, they constitute the type of test that must be compulsorily performed in order to obtain certification. Thus, the nominal working conditions, which also dictate the design specifications, are those which correspond to the test conditions during the so-called "crashtests".

Ultimately, the optimal "guardrail" must not only be a certified product, but it should also perform its function in the best possible way, i.e., the containment of the vehicles and dissipation of their kinetic energy in the event of accidents; but, as seen, its behavior depends not only on the "guardrail" as such, but also, and above all, on the type of road and the characteristics of the ground on which the "guardrail" is fixed to the ground.

Finally, in Figure 1 b, above the ground 300, the road surface is also represented, indicated with the number 310; it typically consists of a layer of asphalt with a thickness of the order of a ten of centimeters.

Figure 2a illustrates the behavior of a "guardrail" installed on the ground on the embankment of a road, as occurs in the vast majority of real cases, in which the roadway is at a slightly raised level with respect to the level of the surrounding terrain (this case too is a typical and widespread one).

In the majority of real installations, the uprights 210 of a "guardrail" are simply driven into the ground 300 without paying particular attention to the characteristics of this ground 300; on the contrary, since it is a raised ground (this case is very frequent), in many cases, the compactness characteristics are not good enough. Therefore, when the "guardrail" is hit by an impact force, indicated in Figure 2a with the number 400, the tightness of the embankment is often modest, typically it is not sufficient to hold vertical the upright 210, which does not deform and rotates as indicated in Figure 2a (in which the rotated position of the post 210 is shown with a dotted line).

Figure 2b instead shows a detail of a road equipped with a safety barrier in which there are some reinforcing elements with the function of keeping the fastening to the ground of the upright 110 more firmly.

Figure 2b illustrates the type of intervention that is currently used to remedy the fact that the upright of a "guardrail", hit by an impact force 400, behaves as shown in Figure 2a, so that it does not adequately fulfill the its function. Compared to Figure 2a, in which the characteristics of the ground 300 were not substantially relevant (since they were not adequately taken into account for the installation of the "guardrail"), the ground is instead depicted in greater detail. In fact, the number 301 indicates an area of land with different characteristics from the generic land 300. In fact, the terrain on which a road is built normally (practically always) undergoes a stabilization treatment by compacting and pressing the soil on which the road surface is then laid. In fact, a so-called "roadbed" is always created, the depth of which is of the order of a meter (generally the "roadbed" is designed according to the geological characteristics of the terrain 300 on which the road is built). Said "roadbed" 301 is essential, and serves to prevent subsidence phenomena of the road when it is loaded with the weight generated by vehicular traffic. Being a treated ground, said "roadbed" 301 has known characteristics of compactness, in general very good, because, as mentioned, it is a ground that must not deform under the weight of vehicles passing on the road. Said "roadbed" 301 is obviously located under the road surface, always indicated with the number 310. Certainly, a part of land treated as the "roadbed" also extends towards the edge of the road, but its characteristics along the edges are certainly not controlled like those under the road surface, and are in any case affected by the characteristics of the surrounding terrain 300. The "roadbed" 301 therefore represents the ideal ground for anchoring the uprights 210 for the installation of safety barriers. Anchors of this type are known, for example from patent application no. PCT/IT2020/000075 - “Road equipped with road safety barriers fixed to the ground and installation method thereof”.

The system taught in the cited patent application is summarized in figure 2b and has a particular composition as it includes at least three distinct and interconnected subsystems: a system of vertical plates, indicated with the number 253, a connecting rod, indicated with the number 252, and a junction element, indicated with the number 251.

Said system of vertical plates 253 is arranged to be driven vertically into the roadbed 301 , where this is more compact, in an area below the road surface 310, possibly not too close to the edge of the road, and in any case in an area where the holding performance is reliable.

Anchoring systems such as the one shown in Figure 2b obviate the physiological uncertainty regarding the tightness characteristics of the soil of which the roadsides are made up, because they exploit the soil with better characteristics which is found under the road surface, and the their effectiveness is due to the particular compactness of the soil of which the "roadbed" is made 301. Of course, these types of anchoring are recommended when their installation is contextual to the construction of the road, but they can be problematic if you want to implement them on existing roads, on which there is already a safety barrier, perhaps installed by simple insertion of the uprights 110 on an embankment. Furthermore, anchoring systems can be made in many different ways, and every technical solution concerning the anchoring mechanics must be tested and certified.

All of these installation and certification issues could easily be avoided if, simply, no specific anchoring for the posts were needed; and if instead a system was available capable of adequately consolidating the ground in which the uprights 210 of the "guardrails" are fixed.

Figure 3 shows, with a view similar to those of Figures 2a and 2b, the consolidation system according to the invention, in a simplified implementation form, in which neither realistic shapes nor proportions are evidently respected; being the proposed figure just used to highlight the characteristics and essential elements of the system according to the invention.

The consolidation system of the road quay according to the invention has a first characteristic which consists in the fact that it is conceived to locally consolidate the ground, typically in the areas where vertical elements are fixed, hopefully in a way so that they remain firmly fixed, even if laterally impacted in violent way.

The consolidation system therefore consists of one or more independent and local consolidation groups; normally (this is evident in the case of consolidation to strengthen the installation of a "guardrail") the system will consist of a plurality of said consolidation groups, designed to consolidate the ground especially in correspondence with the various vertical elements driven into the ground.

One of said consolidation groups is represented in Figure 3, and it is indicated as a whole with the number 100, represented within a dashed line. The consolidation group 100 is composed of a set of small tubes thin enough to be easily inserted into the ground to be consolidated as if they were the needles of a large syringe, suitable for being used to inject substances into the ground, once again indicated with the number 300, and whose compactness characteristics are not known a priori.

These small tubes are substantially of two types. The first type, in the context of this description, is called an injection cannula, and it is indicated in Figure 3 with the number 110; while the second type of small tubes is indicated with the number 120 and, again in the context of this description, they are called consolidation straws.

The example of Figure 3 shows a small group of these small tubes, or consolidation straws 120; and, as a whole, said group of consolidation straws 120 is suitable for effectively consolidating the soil involved to hold a guardrail upright, again indicated with the number 210, whose underground part drawn with a dotted line can also be seen.

The example of Figure 3 shows a single injection cannula 110 which, as will be clarified, is sufficient (together with the other elements of the system) to adequately consolidate the soil 300 involved in holding a post 210. Said injection cannula 110 is longer than the consolidation straws 120 and therefore, when it is almost completely driven into the ground, its distal end reaches a good depth, generally of the order of magnitude of the driving depth of the upright 210.

In advisable embodiments, it is preferable that said injection cannula be inserted into the ground 300 obliquely, possibly orienting the direction of insertion towards the inside of the roadway, so as to affect areas of the ground which, at the depth reached, are almost certainly characterized by generally good compactness characteristics.

Said injection cannula 110 is arranged to inject into the ground 300 a certain quantity of expansive resin, of the type of the resins previously described, again in this description. Said expansive resin is injected from the proximal end of the injection cannula 110, indicated in Figure 3 with the number 111 , which, when said injection cannula 110 is inserted, is substantially at ground surface level. Once injected, said expansive resin exits from a hole arranged near the distal end of the injection cannula; said distal end, in Figure 3, is indicated with the number 112, and is located underground at a good depth (depending on the length of said injection cannula).

As soon as it comes out of this hole, the expansive resin expands and forms a fairly voluminous bulb, indicated in Figure 3 with the number 113, which remains attached to said distal end of the injection cannula 110, forming a continuous body with the resin remaining inside of the injection cannula itself.

In fact, the formation of this bulb 113 prevents the cannula itself from slipping out of the ground.

In a simple embodiment, said injection cannula 110 has only one hole at its distal end 112, but variants are possible in which said injection cannula 110 has more than one hole: what matters is that from these one or more holes exits a sufficient quantity of expansive resin able to form some swellings of expanded matter, which anchor the injection cannula to the ground, preventing significant movements, and above all by opposing the movement of its tip infixed in depth.

The consolidation straws 120 are instead shorter and, in the example of Figure 3, are driven around the post 210. Preferably, they are driven on the external side with respect to the roadway: that is, they are driven into the area of land which is subject to yielding when the upright 210 is hit by a knock coming from inside the road. These consolidation straws 120 are used to inject a resin with consolidating properties (again of the type of resins described above) into the ground. In addition to being shorter, in general, they have a greater number of holes positioned laterally, so as to allow the exit of the consolidating resin at various heights.

This consolidating resin is thus injected so as to soak the soil 300 around each consolidation straw 120, so that it can exert its effect, and a very consolidated block of soil is formed, which is also quite hardened (the hardening is a further typical effect of these consolidating resins).

As previously explained, this hardened block of soil is not clearly separated from the further away soil which has not undergone treatment with the consolidating resin, but has a compactness and hardness which gradually decrease as one moves away from the consolidation straws 120 , this effect is obtained naturally, given that the injected consolidating resin more abundantly soaks the soil closest to the injection point, and less and less abundantly the soil as one moves away from the injection point.

The block of soil thus hardened is then kept in position by the anchor formed by means of the injection cannula 110. In fact, the consolidation straws 120 which are firmly immersed in the well- consolidated soil thanks to the injected consolidating resin, are connected to the injection cannula 110 which, in turn, is firmly anchored and therefore it does not move.

The installation shown in Figure 3 can be replicated around all the uprights that need consolidation, because they are planted in an area of land that does not offer adequate guarantees of tightness.

The overall consolidation system, therefore, is nothing more than a set of local consolidation groups 100 (around each upright) made up of small groups of pipes and strows. Each of these consolidating groups 100 is designed to be driven into the ground around a "guardrail" post, but without even touching this post. The effect, therefore, is not that of anchoring this upright in some way, an intervention that would require the re-certification of the "guardrail" (accompanied by the hypothetical anchoring system). The effect is simply that of decisively consolidating the ground 300, so that even the simplest installation, carried out by infixion, ends up being largely sufficient to guarantee optimal installation of the "guardrail". In theory, the consolidation straws 120 and the injection cannula (or cannulas, if there are more than one) 110 which acts as an anchor, could also be planted individually in the ground 300 without there being, between them, a pre-established physical connection. In fact, if the injection cannula (or cannulas) 110 and the consolidation straws 120 belonging to the same consolidation group 100, and installed around a fixed upright 210, were sufficiently close, due to the effect of the consolidation generated by the injected consolidation resin in the ground 300 by means of the straws 120, all these straws and cannulas would be equally connected to each other by the consolidated block of soil, and the consolidation system would in any case be effective.

However, in the preferred embodiments, it is convenient that the consolidation system provides that the various elements of each consolidation group 100 are also connected by a specific physical element.

The reason is that, as previously explained, it is necessary that the entire small group of cannulas and straws is physically well connected even with respect to stresses which tend to separate the various parts; this is important so that the block of consolidated soil is well cohesive overall, as well as being well connected to the injection cannula which acts as an anchor to the deeper layers of the soil 300. It is clear that a further connection, which adds to that offered by the consolidated soil alone is certainly very useful.

Moreover, it should be noted that, for the purposes of maintaining the position of a post hit by a vehicle, the consolidation that is carried out on the ground has the main function of making it resistant above all to compression and with respect to its possible crumbling, but does not necessarily offer a great rigid tensile strength (although this property depends greatly on the type of consolidating resin used, given that different substances can be used), therefore a connection implemented with suitable physical elements can certainly oppose more effectively stresses which tend to distance the various cannulas and straws of a consolidation group 100.

Figure 4 shows, in a very schematic and essential way, an example of a particular implementation of a consolidation group 100 according to the invention.

Figure 4 shows four consolidation straws, always indicated with the number 120, fixed to a connecting plate shaped like a "square C", and indicated in Figure 4 with the number 130. The consolidation straws shown in Figure 4 allow us to appreciate a detail mentioned in the analysis of the previous Figure 3, but which was not highlighted graphically, given that Figure 3 was used and conceived only to explain the overall behavior of the consolidation system.

In particular, it should be noted that the consolidation straws 120 are suitable for sprinkle the ground along their length, and therefore have a plurality of small holes through which, when the consolidation straws 120 are driven into the ground, they dispense the consolidating resin. This is a feature that differentiates the behavior of the consolidation straws 120 from the injection cannula 110 which is instead arranged to generate an anchoring bulb 113 at its distal end 112, and therefore must not let the expanding resin come out except from one or more holes which are located precisely at said distal end 112.

Connecting the consolidation straws 120 in a structural element consisting of a lamina offers a double advantage: keeping the consolidation straws 120 connected to each other and facilitating their simultaneous driving into the ground, potentially executable with a single maneuver.

Furthermore, a folded lamina, preferably made of a metallic material, on which a plurality of consolidation straws 120 are permanently fixed, so that they remain parallel to each other, also significantly facilitates the positioning of the consolidation straws 120 themselves: in fact, it will suffice driving the folded lamina so that it roughly surrounds the post whose fixing on the ground you want to reinforce.

Furthermore, this connecting element 130 can also be conveniently used to couple an injection cannula to it for anchoring it to the ground.

In the embodiment exemplified in Figure 4, for this purpose, the lamina 130 is also provided for a perforated flange, indicated with the number 131 , permanently fixed to the lamina 130 itself. Said perforated flange 131 is evidently attached to the lamina 130 in such a way that the hole is easily accessible from the ground surface, even when the lamina 130 is already driven (or almost completely driven) into the ground. In this way, the hole in the flange 131 acts as a guide for inserting also the injection cannula 110 into the ground, so that, when the latter is also driven into the ground, it is still connected to the lamina 130. To maintain the connection between the cannula 110 and the connecting lamina 130, in a simple way, it is sufficient to shape the proximal end 111 of the cannula 110, so that it cannot pass completely through the hole of the flange 131 , and slip out of the flange itself.

Ultimately, Figure 4 shows how a consolidation group 100 composed of four consolidation straws 120 and an injection cannula 110, connected by a folded lamina 130, which guarantees a very good physical connection between all the elements of the consolidation unit 100, can be implemented in a simple way, and, at the same time, facilitating the installation maneuvers.

More generally, given that multiple embodiments of this flange 131 are in any case possible, it can be stated that, in the embodiments in which the consolidation straws 120 are connected by means of a connecting element 130 made with a folded lamina, it is always possible, as well as very simple, to prepare said connecting element 130 by providing it with a flange 131 , permanently fixed to it, and designed so that an injection cannula 110, belonging to the same consolidation group 100, when fixed in the ground, is hooked to said connection element 130.

The embodiment shown in Figure 4 allows to appreciate how the system taught by the present invention is very practical to install and, at the same time, also relatively simple to construct; but it also suggests that many variants are actually possible, in an almost indefinite number.

In fact, consolidation groups of various sizes can be conceived with different numbers of consolidation straws, so as to be able to offer installation teams the possibility of using different consolidation groups according to the conditions of the ground to be consolidated.

Evidently, even the shape of the connecting element does not necessarily have to be a lamina, even if the laminar shape seems to be a preferable choice, above all for its ease of driving into all terrains. However, even choosing to make the connecting element with a lamina, countless forms of implementation are still possible by providing for the creation of different folds, or by suitably shaping the lower edge so as to further facilitate the insertion, providing, for example, a lamina inserted into the ground presenting an inclined profile.

Even the way in which to connect the injection cannula 110 can be devised in very many ways: again, by way of example, just to make it clear that the possible implementation forms are truly innumerable, it is possible to conceive a form of coupling in which the consolidation straws 120 are connected to each other (for example with a laminar structure as in Figure 4) with an element that does not have any coupling flange or hook for the injection cannula 110. In this case it is possible to provide that it is the injection cannula 110 that is shaped to hook onto the connection structure of the consolidation straws 120: it will be sufficient to plant the injection cannula so that it touches the connection structure 130 and to take advantage of the conformation of the cannula 110, suitably arranged, so that, once inserted into the ground, it hooks in some way to the connecting structure 130.

As it is clear by now, there is no need to continue with other examples of variant conformations with which to organize and connect cannulas and straws of the consolidation system 100.

What is useful to underline is that all these variants offer systems that act on the ground 300, possibly all around the point where the guardrail’s upright whose insertion must be strengthened, but it is not necessary that the individual consolidation groups 100 interact directly with the uprights by touching them: on the contrary, in typical installations it is envisaged that any element of each consolidation group 100 do not touch at all the upright 210 infixed in the ground where it is intended to provide a consolidation.

This aspect is far from being of negligible importance because it allows to intervene on safety barriers already installed, or to use the teachings of the invention in coupling with "guardrails" among those available on the market, and provided with their own independent certification.

The teachings of the invention allow to act with a great variety of interventions to adapt the installation of each specific "guardrail" to almost all the cases in which the installation by driving the posts into the ground is envisaged: in other words, it is possible to manage very different cases with a single product and a single certification.

But the consolidation system according to the teachings of the invention must absolutely not be understood just from an opportunistic point of view, i.e. to avoid certification charges: in fact, above all, it must be understood as a system aimed at making up for a serious shortcoming in the certification processes; since it offers a solution that brings the different real installation conditions back to the certification conditions, thus making the contents of the certifications themselves significant, while, often, they are not, as explained at the beginning of this description. Figures 5a and 5b show an embodiment of the present invention which is based on the same inventive concept. In fact, on closer inspection, and as already mentioned above, when the summary description of the invention has been anticipated, the inventive concept consists in the fact that the conceived consolidation system is concretely implemented with two subsystems:

1. a first subsystem for hardening the ground in a precise, small, and fairly superficial area, contiguous to the point where the guardrail posts are infixed, and

2. a second subsystem that keeps the hardened ground still, which, being quite little, could move en-bloc, making its function effectively useless.

It is clear that the use of the chemical resins described above represents a decidedly interesting form of implementation to fulfill the two functions of the two subsystems described, because it is a form of implementation that we could define as universal and adaptable to almost any terrain. However, when tested, it was possible to verify the effectiveness of the inventive principle also by resorting to simpler technologies and, above all, more familiar to the workers who carry out the "guardrail" installations.

In Figure 5a, number 140 indicates a containment element, which constitutes the essential element of this hardening subsystem.

As can be appreciated, it is a very simple mechanical element, in fact it consists of a sort of bulkhead, which in the implementation form of Figure 5a is shaped like of squared "C", but which can assume many different shapes.

Said containment element 140 is shaped to be driven like a blade into the ground, near the post of a "guardrail", and on the side towards the outside of the road. Said containment element 140 is not very large, so that it is driven into the ground a few decimeters with a maneuver which is evidently very easy. Once infixed, said containment element 140 delimits an area of ground between itself and the upright, where the terrain can be hardened by compressing cement-based sands inside it; or alternatively, more simply, by inserting in the terrain small bricks, which, if forced into the ground, compress it and make it harder and more compact.

Note that this intervention is not classified as a modification of the "guardrail" upright but only a ground preparation intervention, and therefore it has no effect as regards the certification issues. In fact, an essential feature of the installation of said containment element 140 is that it is designed to be driven into the ground like a blade, in the vicinity of an upright (210) of a guardrail, but not in contact with it.

Thanks to this simple intervention, which can be practiced trivially using an element of very simple workmanship such as the containment element 140, it is possible to harden the soil around the uprights of a "guardrail", in particular, hardening the soil immediately near to the posts and towards the outside of the road.

To complete the implementation of the inventive principle it is also necessary to provide that the hardened ground does not move en-bloc when the upright is hit by a violent impact. For this purpose, in preferred embodiments, it is possible to equip the containment element 140 with suitable appendices, such as the flange indicated in Figure 5a with the number 141 , arranged to hook an anchoring subsystem that opposes to the movement of the containment element 140.

It can be observed that this flange 141 is represented in Figure 5a exactly like the flange 131 of the connecting element 130 of Figure 4. This is because it has exactly the same function, and therefore, all said above for the flange 131 of Figure 4, also applies to the flange 141 of Figure 5a; the same is valid also for all the considerations made about the variants that can be adopted to create an anchor that keeps the hardened ground firmly in place, whatever the hardening method adopted.

Figure 5b shows, in a stylized way, an example of installation of the consolidation system 100 in a generalized form.

The numbers used in Figure 5b maintain the same meaning used in the previous figures, with the exception of the numbers indicating parts of the invention which were not explicitly presented in the previous figures.

The number 302 indicates the terrain located between the upright 210 and the containment element 140 infixed in the vicinity of the upright 210 itself. Said terrain 302 can be easily hardened by pressing it locally, and adding other cement-based terrain with hardening properties.

After that, the containment element 140 must be anchored to the ground by means of a suitable anchoring element, indicated in Figure 5b with the number 115. Said anchoring element 115 can be implemented by means of the previously described injection cannula 110, but also by other anchoring systems; for example, rods with a harpoon tip which allow for easy insertion, but which are then shaped to oppose extraction.

Purely mechanical anchoring systems, made with mechanisms of various types, are well-known, also for ground anchoring applications. For example, very interesting solutions, which can be inspired by, are those used to anchor to the ground large tarps for agriculture applications to protect various crops. These solutions envisage mechanisms that allow rotation, or small displacements, of suitable mechanical elements constrained to the tip of the distal end of the rod infixed in the ground (which is in fact a sort of picket): when this is completely infixed in the ground, the shift of these elements, which can move, determines conformations of the distal end of the rod which make it practically impossible to remove it after it has been inserted. These systems offer very solid anchorages, since they must be able to withstand the stresses caused by the wind which can also be very strong.

Concluding Remarks

In general, as seen from the previous description, the roadside consolidation system, made according to the teachings of the present invention, lends itself to numerous implementation variants.

The description provided already highlights many of these variants. In fact, there are innumerable possible shapes for making the connecting elements which aggregate the consolidation straws 120 and the injection cannula (or cannulas) 110, so as to obtain advantages in terms of operation and installation speed, or to optimize the costs of production. In this regard, it should be remembered that the installed system may require the installation of several thousand consolidation groups 100, and therefore the cost factor, both of production and installation, is a key factor for the actual success of the consolidation system as a whole.

With strict reference to the conformation of the single consolidation straws 120 and of the injection cannula 110, it is reiterated that their shape and section is not the object of the invention, as well as the position and number of holes, which can be designed according to many variants. Even the surface opening, both of the consolidation straws 120 and of the injection cannula 110, can be shaped in various ways, for example to facilitate coupling with the containers of the resins which must then be injected into the ground through said cannulas and straws.

In fact, the inventive activity, in the case of the present invention, has been lavished to conceive an alternative system to solve the problem of fixing a "guardrail" firmly to the ground. Instead of intervening on the ground fixing systems, we thought about how to avoid making a complex fixing necessary, making sure that the most banal of the ground fixing methods, i.e., the fixing by driving, is actually adequate in all circumstances.

The idea then took advantage of the fact that chemical substances are now available at acceptable costs in the form of injectable resins. However, it would not have been realistic to inject such resins massively on all road shoulders, both for cost reasons and for reasons of operational complexity. The consolidation system taught by the invention allows to concentrate, in a controlled way, the injection of these chemical substances in an optimal way and only where, and how, it is actually needed.

Possible further variants, which have already been mentioned making use of figures 5a and 5b, are linked to the possibility of generalizing the implementation of the inventive concept: therefore, both the action of hardening of the ground in the vicinity of the post driving area and the anchoring of the hardened ground to avoid its displacement can be interventions implemented with techniques other than the injection of chemical resins. In fact, even these alternative techniques have proven effective in many cases.

Other possible further variants may also depend on technological aspects concerning the individual components of the system, such as, for example, the integration of any additional consolidation and stiffening subsystems that can be connected to the system described.

Even the materials that can be used to make each single part of the system are not, at the moment, the object of distinctive characteristics of the system, and therefore it is not intended to claim the use of specific materials, even if, at the state of the art, the metallic materials appear as a viable choice, and one of the preferred ones, if for no other reason, due to the fact that the consolidation system according to the invention could be seen as a carpentry product similar to the "guardrails" themselves, which are predominantly metallic objects.

However, if some materials, even of future definition, prove to be particularly suitable for the application, and could provide interesting advantages, such new materials could certainly be used to give rise to further implementing variants of the same invention.

Furthermore, the invention itself can be implemented in a minimal or excessive way, for example, as already highlighted above, the installation of the single consolidation groups 100 can be implemented in a systematic way on all the uprights, or only on some, for example by consolidating the ground around a post every two or every three, or with a pace established with other rules.

Alternatively, only the areas of land most at risk could be selected to be consolidated. In this case, the system could be equipped with appropriate instrumentation to test the characteristics of the terrain, in order to discriminate the areas that require consolidation from those that do not.

All these innumerable variants can be implemented by the man skilled in the art without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as emerges from the present description and the attached claims and, in addition to being able to offer further advantages with respect to those already mentioned, these variants can give rise to the development of different installation methods.

Other areas of improvement may therefore concern the presence of additional accessory elements, or tricks that favor installation efficiency.

In fact, the system as a whole may evolve towards a greater emphasis on installation automation, and installation/maintenance procedures may evolve towards highly automated processes, potentially executable by fully automatic machines.

The invention is therefore susceptible to further evolutionary efforts, capable of improving both the performance of the described system and the installation and/or maintenance procedures. Such developments, if not included in the present description, may be the subject of further patent applications associated with the present invention.