JP7516175B2 - Sampling device and sampling method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sampling device and a sampling method for taking samples of improved ground.

Conventionally, sampling of improved ground involves removing the soil improvement device used for soil improvement from the ground, then inserting a long collector into the ground to collect samples before they are solidified with improvement materials. Such collectors include those with a lid at the opening of a cylindrical container that contains the sample, which opens and closes in response to the insertion and removal of the collector, those with a lid that opens and closes by rotating the collector on an axis parallel to the insertion direction, and those in which the entire container is closed by rotation on an axis parallel to the insertion direction (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-61162 A

Here, in the above-mentioned conventional collectors, the container is opened and closed by moving the collector itself, so that the opening and closing may not be performed reliably. Therefore, there is a risk that the sample falls out of the container and cannot be collected, or that samples from different depths are mixed during collection. In addition, since the depth at which the container of the collector inserted into the ground is located is unclear, it is difficult to collect a sample at a desired depth.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reliably collect samples at a desired depth of improved ground.

(Modes of the Invention)
The following aspects of the invention are illustrative of the configuration of the present invention, and are described in terms of items to facilitate understanding of the various configurations of the present invention. Each item does not limit the technical scope of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention may include any embodiment in which some of the components of each item are replaced or deleted, or other components are added, while taking into account the best mode for carrying out the invention.

(1) A sampling device for taking samples of ground improved by a ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground, comprising: a cylindrical main body portion open at both ends; two opening/closing means for opening and closing one end and the other end of the main body portion under control of a power supply system that can be operated from the ground; and an attachment means for attaching the main body portion to the portion of the ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device .

The sampling device described in this section includes a main body, two opening/closing means, and an attachment means. The main body is cylindrical with both ends open, and is essentially a portion that contains a sample inside. The two opening/closing means open and close one end side and the other end side of such a cylindrical main body, for example, simultaneously, and perform the opening and closing operation under control of a power supply system that can be operated from the ground. Therefore, the two opening/closing means can be easily and reliably opened and closed at any timing by the operation of the power supply system by an operator. The attachment means attaches the main body to a ground improvement device used for ground improvement, and at this time, the main body is attached to the portion where the ground improvement device penetrates the ground, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device. Therefore, the cylindrical main body is attached to the ground improvement device in a manner that one end side and the other end side are directed forward and backward in the penetration direction of the ground improvement device.

With the above-mentioned configuration, when the sampling device described in this section is inserted into the ground immediately after improvement together with the ground improvement device with the two opening/closing means open, the improved soil before solidification enters from one end of the main body and exits to the other end, and even if it is moved in the opposite direction of extraction, the improved soil before solidification enters from the other end of the main body and exits to the one end. As a result, the improved soil at the depth where the main body is currently located is always present inside the main body, so that when the main body is at the desired depth, the two opening/closing means are closed simultaneously, for example, to store a sample of the improved soil at the desired depth inside the main body. Moreover, since the sampling device described in this section is attached to the ground improvement device used for ground improvement, the current depth of the main body can be clearly grasped, and the two opening/closing means are reliably closed by control from the power supply system, so that a sample of the improved ground at the desired depth can be reliably collected. Furthermore, it can be easily attached to an existing ground improvement device via the attachment means, and samples are collected in conjunction with the penetration operation of the ground improvement device, so no additional preparation is required and samples can be collected as part of the entire process from ground improvement to construction.

(2) A sampling device according to the above paragraph (1), wherein the two opening and closing means are air valves which are opened and closed by air pressure supplied from the power supply system, or water pressure valves which are opened and closed by water pressure supplied from the power supply system (Claim 1 ).
In the sampling device described in this section, the two opening/closing means for opening and closing one end and the other end of the main body are air valves or water pressure valves, and in the case of air valves, the opening and closing operations are performed by air pressure supplied from a power supply system, and in the case of water pressure valves, the opening and closing operations are performed by water pressure supplied from a power supply system. This allows one end and the other end of the main body to be opened and closed responsively by the air valves or water pressure valves, making it possible to more reliably collect samples of the improved ground.

(3) A sampling method for taking samples of ground improved by a ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground, comprising the steps of: attaching a sampling device having a cylindrical main body, one end of which can be opened and closed by control of a power supply system that can be operated from the ground, to a portion of the ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device; inserting the ground improvement device into the ground with one end and the other end of the main body open; closing one end and the other end of the main body when the main body is at a desired depth; and pulling up the ground improvement device from the ground with one end and the other end of the main body closed, and then recovering a sample from inside the main body .

In the sampling method described in this section, first, a sampling device having a cylindrical main body is attached to the portion of the ground improvement device used for ground improvement that is to be penetrated into the ground, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device. In other words, the sampling device is attached to the ground improvement device so that one end side and the other end side of the cylindrical main body face forward and backward in the penetration direction of the ground improvement device. The sampling device attached here can be opened and closed at one end side and the other end side of the main body by control from a power supply system that can be operated from the ground, so that it can be opened and closed easily and reliably at any timing by an operator operating the power supply system. Next, with one end side and the other end side of the main body of the sampling device open, the ground improvement device is penetrated into the ground immediately after improvement, so that the improved soil before solidification is received from one end side of the main body while the improved soil is released from the other end side of the main body. In this case, even if the sampling device is moved in the direction of being pulled out, the improved soil that entered from the other end of the main body will be pulled out from one end, so there will always be improved soil inside the main body at the depth where the main body is located.

When the main body of the sampling device is at the desired depth, one end and the other end of the main body are closed, for example, at the same time, and in this state, the ground improvement device is raised from the ground together with the sampling device, and the sample is collected from inside the main body of the sampling device. At this time, since the sampling device is attached to the ground improvement device used for ground improvement, the depth at which the main body of the sampling device is located is clearly known, and both ends of the main body are reliably closed by control from the power supply system. Therefore, samples from the desired depth of the improved ground are reliably collected. Furthermore, the sampling device can be attached to an existing ground improvement device, and since the sampling is performed in conjunction with the penetration operation of such a ground improvement device, no additional preparation is required and samples are collected as part of a series of construction steps following the ground improvement work.

(4) In the above (3), the sampling method further comprises using an air valve that opens and closes one end and the other end of the main body by air pressure supplied from the power supply system, or a water pressure valve that opens and closes by water pressure supplied from the power supply system (Claim 2 ).
The sampling method described in this section uses an air valve that opens and closes by air pressure supplied from a power supply system, or a water pressure valve that opens and closes by water pressure supplied from a power supply system, to open and close one and the other ends of the main body of the sampling device attached to the ground improvement device, thereby enabling the opening and closing of both ends of the main body to be performed responsively and more reliably collect samples of the improved ground.

(5) In the above ( 4), the sampling method further comprises attaching the sampling device to a plurality of locations on the ground improvement device (Claim 3 ).
In the sampling method described in this section, a sampling device is attached to each of a plurality of different positions in the direction of penetration of the ground on the ground improvement device. As a result, when the ground improvement device is penetrated into the ground, the plurality of sampling devices are located at different depths, so that samples of the improved soil at a plurality of depths can be efficiently and reliably collected.

(6) In the above (4) or (5), a sampling method (Claim 4 ) is provided, in which a size of the main body of the sampling device to be attached to the ground improvement device is determined according to the geology of the ground to be improved.
In the sampling method described in this section, the size of the main body of the sampling device to be attached to the ground improvement device is determined according to the geology of the ground to be improved, which is understood from a preliminary survey, etc. As a result, even if the ground to be improved contains relatively large gravel, for example, a main body of a size that takes this into consideration is used, and samples of the improved ground can be taken without problems such as the gravel clogging or blocking the openings of the main body. Furthermore, the amount of sample to be taken is adjusted according to the size of the main body.

Because the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to reliably collect samples from the improved ground at the desired depth.

1A and 1B are a front view and a side view showing a schematic configuration of a sampling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an image side view showing the inside of the sampling device to explain a method of collecting ground samples using the sampling device of FIG. 1. 2 is a side view showing the state of a ground improvement device, for explaining a method of taking ground samples using the sampling device of FIG. 1. Continuing from FIG. 3, this is a side view showing the ground improvement device. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a ground improvement device having multiple sampling devices attached thereto.

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, detailed explanations of the same or corresponding parts as those in the prior art will be omitted, and the same or corresponding parts are indicated by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a sampling device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention for taking samples of improved ground. For the sake of convenience, the sampling device 10 shown in Figs. 1 to 5 shows a part of the internal structure in a see-through manner. As shown in Fig. 1, the sampling device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is mainly composed of a main body 12, two opening/closing means 16, 18, and an attachment means 24.

The main body 12 is tubular, with both ends 12a and 12b open, and in this embodiment is cylindrical, with a sample of improved soil 60 (see FIG. 2) stored in its interior 12c. In this embodiment, the main body 12 is configured to be divisible into three parts, with one end 12a and the other end 12b connected via two joints 22. The size of the main body 12 can be set arbitrarily depending on the amount of sample to be collected and the geology of the ground from which the sample will be collected, and multiple main body parts 12 of different sizes can be prepared. Note that in FIGS. 1 to 5, a portion of the joint 22 is shown broken away.

The two opening/closing means 16, 18 are for opening and closing one end 12a side and the other end 12b side of the main body 12, one opening/closing means 16 is installed between one end 12a of the main body 12 and one joint 22, and the other opening/closing means 18 is installed between the other end 12b of the main body 12 and the other joint 22. The opening/closing means 16, 18 of this embodiment are configured with air valves made of rubber or the like that close by air pressure when air is supplied and open when the air supply is cut off, and are covered with a cover member 26. The air valves that constitute the opening/closing means 16, 18 have a pressure port 20 that penetrates the cover member 26, and take in air supplied from a power supply system 30, which is simply shown only in FIG. 1(b), through the pressure port 20. Here, the two opening/closing means 16, 18 may be water pressure valves that open and close by water pressure, in which case water pressure is supplied from the power supply system 30. In addition, the opening and closing means 16, 18 in FIG. 1(b) are in a closed state with air being supplied, and in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, the opening and closing means 16, 18 are illustrated in solid lines through the cover member 26.

The mounting means 24 is for mounting the main body 12 and the two associated opening/closing means 16, 18 to the ground improvement device 40 that performs ground improvement, and in this embodiment includes two plates with an L-shaped cross section. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the mounting means 24 is configured to mount the main body 12 to the portion of the ground improvement device 40 that penetrates into the ground G, parallel to the penetration direction into the ground G. Therefore, when the ground improvement device 40 penetrates into the ground G, the main body 12 attached to the ground improvement device 40 is in a state in which one end 12a faces forward in the penetration direction (downward in FIG. 3) and the other end 12b faces backward in the penetration direction (upward in FIG. 3). The ground improvement device 40 of this embodiment is an agitation device 40A that is attached to the working machine 54 of the heavy equipment 50 and used, and is provided with an agitation blade 42 that is rotated at its tip. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the heavy machine 50 is a hydraulic excavator 50A equipped with a cab 52 and a work machine 54. Note that in Figures 3 to 5, the rotating agitator blade 42 is shown by virtual lines.

1 and 3, the power supply system 30 that supplies power to the two opening and closing means 16, 18 can be operated from the ground even when the sampling device 10 is in the ground G, and in this embodiment, the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing means 16, 18 is controlled by supplying and blocking air. The power supply system 30 includes a compressor that supplies compressed air, and is operated by an operator or worker from, for example, the cab 52 of the heavy equipment 50 or a different position on the ground. For this reason, the power supply system 30 may be configured such that its operating part is installed on the ground side and the supply path is routed along the ground improvement device 40 and the work machine 54, and power is supplied to the opening and closing means 16, 18 from the supply path that passes through the inside of the ground improvement device 40.
The above-mentioned main body 12, the cover member 26 covering the opening/closing means 16, 18, and the mounting means 24 may be formed of any suitable material capable of fulfilling the functions required of them, and may be formed of, for example, metal.

Next, a sampling method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described, in which the sampling device 10 is used to collect samples of improved ground. Here, an example will be described in which a mixing device 40A attached to a hydraulic excavator 50A, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, is used to mix ground-forming soil while supplying an improvement material such as cement slurry, and a sample of improved ground G is collected. Please refer to Figure 1 as appropriate for the configuration of the sampling device 10.

First, as shown in FIG. 3(a), the sampling device 10 is attached to the stirring device 40A (ground improvement device 40) via the attachment means 24. The size of the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 to be attached may be determined according to the geology of the ground G and the amount of samples to be collected. This attachment work is preferably performed before the ground improvement process using the stirring device 40A. In this case, the ground improvement process is performed by the stirring device 40A with the sampling device 10 attached. At this time, the two opening and closing means 16, 18 of the sampling device 10 are closed as shown in FIG. 2(a) before penetrating into the ground G together with the stirring device 40A for the ground improvement process, so that the slurry-like improved soil 60 before solidification does not infiltrate into the inside 12c from one end 12a or the other end 12b of the main body 12 even if the sampling device 10 penetrates into the ground G as shown in FIG. 3(b). In FIG. 2, the slurry-like improved soil 60 before solidification is illustrated by hatching.

When the ground improvement process using the agitator 40A is completed, the agitator 40A is pulled out of the ground G, and the two opening and closing means 16, 18 are both opened by operating the power supply system 30 as shown in FIG. 2(b). Then, in this state, the sampling device 10 is penetrated into the ground G together with the agitator 40A, with or without rotating the agitator blade 42. Then, as shown in FIG. 2(b) and FIG. 4(c), the slurry-like improved soil 60 before solidification enters the inside 12c of the main body 12, and when the main body 12 is located at the desired depth of the ground G from which the sample is to be collected, both of the two opening and closing means 16, 18 are closed by operating the power supply system 30. At this time, it is preferable to close the two opening and closing means 16, 18 simultaneously, and the depth at which the main body 12 is located may be determined in the same manner as the method for determining the depth of the agitator 40A during the ground improvement process.

When the opening/closing means 16, 18 are closed as described above, the improved soil 60 before solidification is trapped inside the interior 12c of the main body 12 as shown in Fig. 2(c), and therefore the sampling device 10 is pulled out from the ground G together with the stirring device 40A as is as shown in Fig. 4(d). The improved soil 60 is then collected as a sample from the interior 12c of the main body 12 by any method.
As shown in FIG. 5, for example, a plurality of sampling devices 10 may be attached to different positions in the vertical direction of the mixing device 40A (ground improvement device 40), and samples at a plurality of depths may be collected by the plurality of sampling devices 10.

Here, the sampling device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration. For example, the two opening/closing means 16, 18 are not limited to air valves or water pressure valves, and may be hydraulic, electric, or other devices that open and close the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12, and the power supply system 30 may be configured accordingly. In the case of a configuration that uses hydraulic pressure, the hydraulic system of the heavy equipment 50 may be used as part of the power supply system 30. In addition, the two opening/closing means 16, 18 may be controlled simultaneously by the power supply system 30, or may be controlled separately. Furthermore, the ground improvement device 40 to which the sampling device 10 is attached is not limited to the stirring device 40A, and may be any device that is used for ground improvement.

Now, according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to obtain the following effects. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the sampling device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 12, two opening/closing means 16, 18, and an attachment means 24. The main body 12 is cylindrical with both ends 12a, 12b open, and the inside 12c is a portion that essentially contains a sample. The two opening/closing means 16, 18 open and close one end 12a and the other end 12b of such a cylindrical main body 12, for example, simultaneously, and perform the opening and closing operation under the control of a power supply system 30 that can be operated from the ground. Therefore, the two opening/closing means 16, 18 can be easily and reliably opened and closed at any timing by the operator operating the power supply system 30.

3, the attachment means 24 is for attaching the main body 12 to the ground improvement device 40 used for ground improvement, and at this time, the main body 12 is attached to the portion of the ground improvement device 40 that penetrates the ground G, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device 40. Therefore, the cylindrical main body 12 is attached to the ground improvement device 40 with its one end 12a and the other end 12b facing forward and backward in the penetration direction of the ground improvement device 40. With this configuration, when the sampling device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is inserted into the ground G immediately after improvement together with the ground improvement device 40 with the two opening/closing means 16, 18 open, the improved soil 60 before solidification enters the main body 12 from one end 12a and passes through to the other end 12b, as shown in FIG. 2(b). Even if it is moved in the opposite direction, the improved soil 60 before solidification enters the main body 12 from the other end 12b and passes through to the one end 12a.

As a result, the improved soil 60 at the depth where the main body 12 is currently located is always present inside 12c of the main body 12, so that when the main body 12 is at the desired depth, as shown in FIG. 2(c), the two opening/closing means 16, 18 are closed simultaneously, for example, to store a sample of the improved soil 60 at the desired depth inside 12c of the main body 12. Moreover, by being attached to the ground improvement device 40 used for ground improvement, the current depth of the main body 12 can be clearly grasped, and the two opening/closing means 16, 18 can be reliably closed by control from the power supply system 30, so that a sample of the improved soil 60 at the desired depth can be reliably collected. Furthermore, it can be easily attached to an existing ground improvement device 40 via the attachment means 24, and samples are collected in conjunction with the penetration operation of the ground improvement device 40, so that no separate preparation is required and samples can be collected as part of a series of steps from ground improvement to construction.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the sampling device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention has two opening/closing means 16, 18 for opening and closing the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12, which are air valves, and these air valves perform opening and closing operations by air pressure supplied from the power supply system 30. This allows the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 to be opened and closed responsively by the air valves, making it possible to more reliably collect samples of the improved soil 60. Note that even if the two opening/closing means 16, 18 are water pressure valves that perform opening and closing operations by water pressure supplied from the power supply system 30, the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 can be opened and closed responsively.

On the other hand, in the sampling method according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3(a), first, a sampling device 10 having a cylindrical main body 12 is attached to a portion of the ground G of a ground improvement device 40 used for ground improvement, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device 40. That is, the sampling device 10 is attached to the ground improvement device 40 so that one end 12a side and the other end 12b side of the cylindrical main body 12 face forward and backward in the penetration direction of the ground improvement device 40. The sampling device 10 attached here can be opened and closed at one end 12a side and the other end 12b side of the main body 12 under the control of a power supply system 30 that can be operated from the ground, so that the worker operating the power supply system 30 can easily and reliably open and close it at any timing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2(b), one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 are opened, and as shown in FIG. 4(c), the ground improvement device 40 is inserted into the ground G immediately after improvement, so that the improved soil 60 before solidification is received from the one end 12a of the main body 12, while the improved soil 60 is released from the other end 12b of the main body 12. At this time, even if the sampling device 10 is moved in the direction of pulling out, the improved soil 60 that entered from the other end 12b of the main body 12 is released from the one end 12a, so that the improved soil 60 is always present in the interior 12c of the main body 12 at the depth where the main body 12 is located.

When the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 is at a desired depth, as shown in FIG. 2(c), one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 are closed at the same time, and as shown in FIG. 4(d), the ground improvement device 40 is pulled up from the ground G together with the sampling device 10 in this state, and the sample is collected from the inside 12c of the main body 12 of the sampling device 10. At this time, since the sampling device 10 is attached to the ground improvement device 40 used for ground improvement, the depth at which the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 is located can be clearly grasped, and both ends 12a and 12b of the main body 12 can be reliably closed by control from the power supply system 30. Therefore, a sample of the improved soil 60 at the desired depth can be reliably collected. Furthermore, the sampling device 10 can be attached to an existing ground improvement device 40, and since the sample can be collected in conjunction with the penetration operation of the ground improvement device 40, it is possible to collect the sample as part of a series of construction steps following the ground improvement without requiring any additional preparation.

Furthermore, in the sampling method according to the embodiment of the present invention, the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 attached to the ground improvement device 40 are opened and closed using air valves that open and close using air pressure supplied from the power supply system 30, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, so that both ends 12a, 12b of the main body 12 can be opened and closed with good responsiveness, and samples of the improved soil 60 can be more reliably collected. Note that the one end 12a and the other end 12b of the main body 12 can also be opened and closed with good responsiveness by using water pressure valves that open and close using water pressure supplied from the power supply system 30.
5, the sampling method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be such that the sampling devices 10 are attached to each of a plurality of different positions of the ground improvement device 40 in the direction of penetration into the ground G. In this way, when the ground improvement device 40 is penetrated into the ground G, the plurality of sampling devices 10 are located at different depths, so that samples of the improved soil 60 at a plurality of depths can be efficiently and reliably collected.

In addition, in the sampling method according to the embodiment of the present invention, the size of the main body 12 of the sampling device 10 to be attached to the ground improvement device 40 may be determined according to the geology of the ground G to be improved, which is understood from a preliminary survey or the like. As a result, even if the ground G to be improved contains relatively large gravel, for example, by using a main body 12 of a size that takes this into consideration, it is possible to collect samples of the improved soil 60 without problems such as the gravel clogging or blocking the openings of the main body 12. Furthermore, the amount of sample to be collected can be adjusted according to the size of the main body 12.

10: Sampling device, 12: Main body, 12a: One end, 12b: Other end, 12c: Inside, 16, 18: Opening and closing means, 24: Mounting means, 30: Power supply system, 40: Ground improvement device, G: Ground

Claims (4)

A sampling device for taking samples of ground improved by a ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground,
A cylindrical main body having both ends open;
two opening/closing means for opening and closing one end side and the other end side of the main body under the control of a power supply system operable from the ground;
and an attachment means for attaching the main body to a portion of the ground improvement device that is to be inserted into the ground in a direction parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device ;
A sampling device characterized in that the two opening and closing means are air valves that open and close by air pressure supplied from the power supply system, or water pressure valves that open and close by water pressure supplied from the power supply system . A sampling method for taking a sample of ground improved by a ground improvement device that is inserted into the ground, comprising the steps of:
A sampling device having a cylindrical main body whose one end side and the other end side can be opened and closed under the control of a power supply system that can be operated from the ground is attached to a portion of the ground improvement device that is to be penetrated into the ground, parallel to the penetration direction of the ground improvement device;
The ground improvement device is inserted into the ground with one end side and the other end side of the main body part open, and when the main body part is at a desired depth, the one end side and the other end side of the main body part are closed;
The soil improvement device is pulled up from the ground while one end side and the other end side of the main body are closed, and then a sample is collected from inside the main body .
A sampling method characterized in that one end and the other end of the main body are opened and closed using an air valve that is opened and closed by air pressure supplied from the power supply system, or a water pressure valve that is opened and closed by water pressure supplied from the power supply system . 3. The sampling method according to claim 2 , wherein the sampling device is attached to a plurality of locations on the ground improvement device. 4. The sampling method according to claim 2, wherein the size of the main body of the sampling device to be attached to the ground improvement device is determined according to the geology of the ground to be improved.

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