Berma is an indispensable part in the construction of any canal or road

Various types of road construction, mining in open quarries, as well as the construction of military buildings require the use of certain techniques of soil removal. In order that the excess land does not fall off under its weight, berms are used.

What are berms?

As a child, many children like to play in the sandbox, digging pits with pitchers and building kulichiki. And how many tears and hysterics they saw these very holes, when other children fell asleep with their occasional movement.

Engineering in the construction of deep trenches and open quarries, mines provides for the removal of waste rock and excess land in a special way. Berma is a land plot that connects the lower edge of the upper slope and the upper edge of the excavation.

This method of ground removal provides an opportunity not only to increase the safety of working personnel, but also to improve the way of transportation of valuable rocks in quarries and mines.

What kinds of berms exist?

Depending on where the 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 of the mined rock down the slope. Its width is 1/3 part of the height of the excavation. This value allows not only to move the transport, exporting the rock for processing, but also serves to clear the road from crumbling pieces.
• Transport berm. This is a way of building railways, expressways, etc., where they connect the used platforms of ledges with trenches (cuvettes).
• Berma security. This is a method of protecting objects in which various toxic, flammable or explosive objects are located.
• Berms used to connect different tiers of dumps are called connecting berms.

Application of berms

If you go deeper into history, the most famous quarries in the developments in which berms were used are the Kopi of King Solomon. Diamond production was conducted in the same way as in modern African countries. The hard dry ground was removed by layers, steps were formed that interfered with a possible landslide during the rainy season.

The workers had to manually shovel tons of clay and sand in search of valuable stones. One such stone could feed the poor worker's family for five years.

In large cities, people often encounter this part of the structures during the construction of roads in the form of cuvettes. For the arrangement of roads the area allocated for them is free of trees and bushes. For the highway to have an even surface, make a mound up to 1.5 meters. Thus, water and snow will not interfere with the passage of transport.

When building roads, the width and length of the new track should be clearly taken into account, since the road berm will occupy an area of at least 1/3 of the total work volume. But in these proportions, both the height of the embankment and the depth of the ditch used to divert water are taken into account.

Excellent engineering work, properly equipped drainage ditches - a guarantee of the minimal risk of possible accidents during a bad weather. Precipitation will be removed from the roadway, reducing slip.

Railway

For the rest of his life every person at least once, but traveled by train. Not many people notice that the construction of railways requires huge efforts. This is connected with the fact that, when laying rails, workers take into account many factors: climate, soil condition, possible disasters in the region.

The roadbed, 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 construction that the 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 from the first determine where exactly it is used.