Development and improvement of erection of mechanical equipment and metal components of hydraulic structures over the past 50 years

Conclusions

• 1. The development and improvement of the erection of mechanical equipment and metal components in the USSR over the past 50 years is inseparably linked with the solution of a large number of problems raised by wide hydraulic and hydropower construction.

• 2. For the erection work stages, the increase in the possibilities of Soviet machinery manufacture is characteristic, and, as a result, there has been a significant expansion of the stock of construction-erection mechanisms and transportation means.

• 3. For the development of mechanical equipment of high-head hydraulic structures, considerable volumes of analytical, experimental-research, and design work have been carried out. Data for design of the load-carrying elements of gates under dynamic loads have been obtained, and sealing elements, sliding and rolling supports for vertical-lift gates, and support hinges for radial gates have been developed. The coefficients of sliding friction of different types of seals have been experimentally determined, and problems of design, fabrication, and erection of high-head gates intended for operation under heads of up to 200 m have been solved.

• 4. A general characteristic of modern projects for the carrying out of erection of mechanical equipment and metal components is the striving for maximum reduction of the cost of hydraulic construction and of the times of completion, increase in the reliability and improvement of hydroelectric plant operation conditions, and use of new techniques and work automation.

• 5. During the past 50 years, the journalGidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel'stvo has described and summed up the gathered erection experience, and has developed in the reader the capacity to apprehend, understand, and value hydraulic construction.