PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF GATES IN WATER .RESOURCES STRUCTURES

Abstract

The regulation of water by means of hydraulic gate is an essential requirement of any Irrigation, Power-generation, Navigation, Flood-control, Industrial & Water supply project. Besides regulation of water, the hydraulic gates are also useful and essential for construction of hydraulic structures. Therefore, hydraulic gates & their operating mechanism are very vital component of water resources projects and thus requires specialised and expertise in regards to their selection, planning & design, manufacturing & erection and operation & maintenance etc. Any kind of laxity on the part of implementation of such schedules leads to handicapped, hazardous and catastrophic situations. There have been many incidents around the world, when the gates have malfunctioned, sometimes with disastrous result, beside loss due to wastage of water and high expenditure on rehabilitation, replacements etc. The causes for incidents of distress of gates can be directly or indirectly attributed to the deficiency of planning, structural design, hydraulic design, fabrication, erection, operation and maintenance. Vibration, cavitation, non-closure, corrosion, erosion and aging problems, improper selection of materials and neglect of lubrication of components have resulted in mal-functioning and even failures of gates in the past. It has been experienced that the designers normally take adequate care in proportioning and sizing the principal members of gates & hoists but the so-called minor details are often neglected both at the design and the fabrication stage leading to their non-performance....