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

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.