Various types of road construction works, mining in open pits, as well as the construction of military buildings require the use of certain techniques for removing soil. In order for excess land not to crumble under its own weight, berm is used.
What is berm?
In childhood, many children like to play in the sandbox, digging holes with a spatula and building cakes. And how many tears and tantrums these same dimples saw when other children bombarded them with a random movement.
Engineering in the construction of deep trenches and open pits, mines provides for the removal of waste rock and excess land in a special way. Berm is a land area that connects the lower edge of the upper slope and the upper edge of the excavation.
This method of soil removal makes it possible not only to increase the safety of working personnel, but also to improve the method of transporting valuable rocks in quarries and mines.
What types of berm exist?
Depending on the sphere in which berm is used, it can be divided into several types:
- Safety berm. This is a way to protect the stability of the quarry wall or open pit from slipping the produced rock down the slope. Its width is 1/3 of the height of the pit. This value allows not only the transport transporting the rock to be transported for processing, but also serves to clean the road from crumbling pieces.
- Transport berm. This is a way to build railways, freeways, etc., where they connect the used ledge platforms with trenches (ditches).
- Security berm. This is a way to protect objects that contain various poisonous, flammable or explosive objects.
- Berm used to connect different tiers of dumps are called connecting .
Berm application
If you delve into history, the most famous quarries in the development, which used berm, are the Mines of King Solomon. Diamond mining was carried out in the same way as in modern African countries. Hard dry soil was removed in layers, steps were formed that interfere with a possible landslide during the rainy season.
Workers had to manually shovel tons of clay and sand in search of valuable stones. One such pebble could feed the poor worker’s family for five years.
In large cities, most often people encounter this part of the structure during the construction of roads in the form of ditches. For the arrangement of roads, the territory allotted for them is freed from trees and bushes. In order for the highway to have an even surface, make an embankment up to 1.5 meters. Thus, water and snow will not interfere with the passage of vehicles.
When arranging roads, the width and length of the new highway should be clearly taken into account, since the road berm will occupy an area of at least 1/3 of the total volume of work. But in these proportions, the height of the embankment and the depth of the ditch used to divert water are also taken into account.
Well-done engineering work, properly equipped drainage ditches are the key to the minimum risk of possible accidents during bad weather. Precipitation will be discharged from the roadway, reducing slipping.
Railway
For all his life, every person at least once, but traveled by train. Not many people notice that the construction of railways requires tremendous effort. This is due to the fact that, while laying rails, workers take into account many factors: climate, soil condition, possible disasters in the region.
The subgrade on which the rails and sleepers are laid has several types. One of them is a mound of sand, gravel or gravel for compaction. It is for the stability of the structure that berm is used. In the case of heavy loads and landslides, the embankment will be intact, which is very important for the continuous movement of trains.
Berma is a part of everyday life. Only people with knowledge in engineering and construction can determine where it is used the first time.