Experimental and Numerical Analysis of 60-Year-Old Sluice Gate Affected by Long-Term Operation

Abstract

Technological units of water reservoirs and power plants include sluice gates which are designed to completely seal the inflow or outflow of water in supply or discharge channels. This article describes the issue of technical assessment of a sluice gate made in the 1950s. Such structures are characterised by states of significant corrosive wear, permanent deformations of contact and sealing surfaces as well as increased levels of residual stresses. In such cases, it is difficult to determine service life using only numerical modelling methods, mainly due to problematic definition of material properties and boundary conditions. Therefore, for safety assessment, it is necessary to verify these facts experimentally. This article presents the procedure for assessing safe operation of the sluice gate on which places with permanent deformation and a broken part of the guide wheel flange were identified. By means of numerical modelling, we identified critical stress values at the locations of reinforcing elements, which were modified, and the stress values were reduced by about 15%. The results of numerical modelling were verified at select locations by experimental measurements during operation using strain gauges. The maximum values of operational normal stresses in the assessed places reached about 27 MPa. Based on the comparison of obtained results and taking into account values of residual stresses reaching up to 190 MPa made by shielded metal arc welding, it can be stated that, for safe operation of the sluice gate, it is necessary to follow the proposed procedure during its lowering and to modify the reinforcing elements structurally.

Design of a Unique Device for Residual Stresses Quantification by the Drilling Method Combining the PhotoStress and Digital Image Correlation

“…For that reason, the authors reversed the standard approach and, thus, verified the experimentally obtained results by numerical analysis. Such an approach has already been used by the authors, and the results obtained were published in several scientific publications, e.g., [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Moreover, in conventional quantification of residual stresses by the hole-drilling technique the FEA is usually used, e.g., the correlation parameters used in the formulas for the computation of stress components from the relieved strains are determined mainly in a numerical way.…”

Impact of Cladding Technology on Residual Stresses within the Renovation of High Pressure Die Casting Molds

“…In the experiment, four samples with different cladding techniques were prepared, then the samples were heat treated and machined. Residual stress levels were determined on the samples prepared in this way by the hole drilling method, which is one of the semi-destructive experimental methods, and the authors have extensive experience with it [13][14][15][16]. The lifetime of the die matrices made of steel alloys is approximately 100,000 cycles and can be increased by heat treatment, thin coating, or cladding [9].…”

Analysis of deformation characteristics of flood gates of runoff hydropower stations under different operating conditions in case of frequent floods

“…Maierhofer C et al [9] investigated the use of radar and ultrasonic pulses to detect the operational safety of old sluice gates and showed that it can non-destructively detect the internal conditions of sluice sidewalls and concrete footings. Pástor M et al [10] performed numerical simulations of gates and determined the critical stress values at the location of reinforcement units and corrected them to reduce the stress values by about 15%. Sunu P W et al [11] developed a model for the flood control system of sluice gates and applied it well to the flood control monitoring system of sluice gates.…”