A gabion is a cage, cylinder, or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil.
It is a great way to decorate your outdoor area with gabion. Walls, stairs, ponds, garden furniture and much more things can be made this way.
Use some of these ideas and make your outdoor area look special and unique.
Types of gabions
Based on structure of gabion, it can be classified into several type viz.Gabion Baskets / Gabion BoxGabion Mattress /
Gabion basket
These are wire mesh boxes made for use by project engineers for the highway and railway projects. The engineers make them out of double-screw steel wires twisted hexagonally. They then fortify with fillings of stones, mud, and soil. The dimensions can be of various types.
Gabion mattresses
They are also called reno mattresses and used for channel coating. It prevents erosion caused by waves due to their velocity.
Gabion sacks
These are in the form of a porous structure, which is also flexible. It is beneficial in hydraulic projects.
Gabion wire mesh
Gabion wire mesh is convenient to keep away loose rocks from falling off the cliffs and mountains onto highways and rail tracks. The wire mesh is also helpful to maintain slopes’ stability close to rail tracks and highway roads.
Decorative Gabion Elements
If you want to decorate your garden and landscape, you can use the decorative gabion elements. They are perfect for the quick growth of plants.
Welded Gabions
It is possible to make welded gabions by using galvanized wire mesh. They coat these wire mesh with zinc and PVC.
Applications of gabions
Gabions are multipurpose utility structures. The engineers use them for many of the heavy engineering as well as military projects. Some of the more common uses in engineering are as under:
Strengthen Walls:
Gabions are used to strengthen walls along embankments as well as cuttings
Prevent Corrosion
Gabion structure can help to prevent corrosion of river walls, canal banks and to protect lakesides
Noise Pollution
Gabion are effective to prevent and reduce noise pollution
Foundation For Dams
To serve as a strong foundation for dams and other such construction structures. The cylindrical gabion of metal is of great use here.
Prevent Flood
Gabions are often utilized to create temporary walls and prevent floods from entering. They are often used to divert the flow of water so that weak structures are not affected by water force.
Decoration
As listed earlier, gabions often serve as decorative structures for landscaping
Prevent Erosion
It can be also used to cover channels such that there is no erosion
Boost Energy Dissipation
To boost energy dissipation in channels by using them as fish screens and as stepped weirs
Promote Air Movement in Building
Modular Wire Mesh Gabions with quarried stone are used to promote air movement in buildings to cool the temperature.
Military Applications
When it came to military use, the gabions proved to be versatile in their utility. In earlier times, they made round gabions that had open tops and open bottoms. They make them using wickerwork and by filling them with mud earth to fortify structures. These wickerwork gabions were lightweight. The military sappers and artillery gunners carried them for their protection. In the field, they use the gabion to construct a bulletproof wall. They do this by filling it with soil and by staking it into the ground and in position. In modern times, the gabions are very protective to FOBs or forward operating bases. They shield from any mortar and artillery fire and also from fragmentary explosions. Usually, the gabions are very useful at mess halls, quarters, and other unprotected places.
Main advantages of the gabion wire.
High durability
Due to the zinc coating, the gabion is highly resistant to any atmospheric corrosion. PVC coating can further extend the life of the wire.
Flexibility
The gabion can stand on even unstable surfaces as well as on water. The gabion maker twists the wire mesh in a double hexagonal manner to lend it a lot of flexibility.
Permeability
There is no need to provide separate drainage provisions. The seamless permeability of the gabion was enough.
Strength
Gabions are very robust as they can resist floods, torrential winds, and even ice.
Affordable
The gabion is affordable to set up. That is because the materials used are not expensive, and labor is not very costly to engage.
Environment friendly
Materials used for the gabion filling are usually soil, earth. There is tremendous scope for the growth and regrowth of plantations on them. They remain unaffected by any natural forces.