Mechanical equipment of the dewatering outlets of the Inguri arch dam

Conclusions

• 1. For the first time in Soviet practice the mechanical equipment of dewatering outlets calculated for a discharge of 750 m³/sec through one outlet at a head of 181 m was designed, manufactured, and assembled, which made it possible to dispense with the second level of outlets and thereby to save 8.5 million rubles.

• 2. The guard, emergency-guard, and service gates of the outlets were designed as slide gates.

  The spans of the gates are distinguished by a high technological effectiveness, which provides the required accuracy in manufacture and assembly.

• 3. The emergency-guard and service gates are operated by a hydraulic drive with unique parameters.

• 4. The emergency-guard ring-follower gate with two-sided seals used for the first time on the outlets of the Inguri hydrostation makes it possible to reduce the dynamic loads on the arch dam and to disconnect the gate shaft from the upper pool when the outlet is operating.

• 5. The service gate with a curvilinear lower edge of the skin plating makes it possible to concentrate the flow in the middle part of the conduit at all openings of the gate and thereby to eliminate the danger of cavitation erosion of the grooves and adjacent linings.

• 6. The guard gate reliably closes an 8.2-m-diameter opening located at a depth of 181 m in the presence of seepage through the seals of the downstream gate.

• 7. The housing of the gates are welded constructions distinguished by a high technological effectiveness, which in combination with the minimum necessary machining provides the required accuracy.

• 8. Polyethylene sealing elements were used for the first time in the seals on the gate housings in connection with the insufficient strength of the existing rubber sealing elements at heads greater than 120 m.