Intake gates - upstream or downstream Lat: photo ofan intake holst structure before a vont damage ‘occurs. A stel framed and insulated aluminum clad at vent house Is a deck level. Above: view ofthe temporary plywood ale vont house ator alr vent damage at the same site Before the 1960s, all intake gates had downstream skinplates. After 1960, roller wheeled gates with upstream skinplates were introduced when it was discovered that such gates eliminated one wall in the intake and had a lower downpull at part gate openings. But, as ] L Gordon explains, the increased risk and installation costs associated with upstream skinplated gates were overlooked ATES with downstceam skinplates are installed in a gate well upstream of the air vent well, and require a concrete wal to separate the two wells. “The gates are generally equipped with cubber seals on the downstream face, which are forced against the sealing path by water pressure. As the gate deflects dowastream under water pressute, the deflection increases the compression force ‘onthe seal, increasing the saling pressure and reducing leak ‘ge. Inthe gate bedded pars, che rllee path andthe seal face ae beside each othee. This means that only one set of anchors fon the heavy roller path need adjustment, which facilitates installation. With a separate ai veg, the cold exeror air can be kept away from the gate well which can be heated in cold climates to prevent freezing. However, theres major derac: tion in that downpull forces at nearclosed openings ate high, depending on the configuration ofthe bottom lip A downstream sinpated gat bas several advange, These © Gate deflection increases sealing force. © The gate well can be easily heated. © Alignment of bedded parts is considered relatively simple. However it does have disadvantages, namely that a concrete wall is needed berween gate well and air vent well, and down- poll at part gate openings is high, requiring a stronger host. Gates with upstream skinplates, however, are installed in the same well asthe air vent, thus saving the expense of a wall between the gare well and the air vent well. With gate and vent inthe same well, heating of the water surface is more difficult in cold climates. The seals are located on the upstream face and are pulled away from the sealing surface as the gate deflects downstream under water pressure, Hence gate deflection decreases sealing force and the seals need to have more flexibil ity to overcome this deflection, Due to gate deflection, there is an increased risk of top seal ‘rollover’ under pressure oF on low ‘ring the gate resulting in damage to the seal. Alignment of the top seals more difficult, and often the seal has to be shimmed in the centre to reduce leakage to acceptable levels. In the bedded ‘pacts within the gate check, the roller path ison the heavy down- Stream face and the seal path ison the lighter upstream face, sep arated by the diameter ofthe rollers. Alignment to within a fraction ofa millimetce is more difficult, requiring the adjust ‘ment of rwo sets of anchors: those on the heavy downstream rollee path and those on the lighter upstream seal path. On the ‘other hand, downpull at part gate openings is negligible. As ‘such, an upstream skinplate gate has the reverse ofthe advan ‘tages/disadvantages of a downstream skinplate gate. skinplates?design standpoint itis evident that an upstream skin ane gate is the preferred choice due to the lower cost ofthe installation, Bur what about operating aspects? When the intake gate is located atthe head of long pipeline or tunnel, there re clear indications that a downstream skin nlate gate isthe preferred alternative (Over the past few years both anecdotal and hard evidence has heen accumulated on several incidents of inappropriate gate rperation,cesulting in damage to facilities bur forcunately no Ws of life, All incidents have resulted from accidental eapid ‘opening of a gate when the pipe or cannel was empty or only partially full, All gates were equipped with controls to prevent Sich an operation bur somehow the controls failed, or the oper sting instructions were overlooked. ‘Nocmal pipe filling is accomplished by lifting the gate about Locm to a “prime” position, and then waiting until the pipe is, {ull before lifting the gate to the fll open position, This opera tion takes from several minutes o several hours, depending on the volume of the empcy pipe. This length of time allows forthe steady release of ai in the pipe being displaced by the water Problems arise when the gate is lifted full, without pausing at the ‘prime’ position. In such an event, the rapid flow of water down the pipe entrains a large volume of air and the airfwater ‘mixture traps more air within the pipe to produce a large bubble ‘of compressed ai at the bottom of the pipe. As more water enters to fill the pipe, the downward water velocity reduces below the race of air bubble rise, and the compressed air babble/water mixture starts to rapidly ascend the pipe to emerge through the air vent with a highly explosive force. “Two of the following incidents occurred at low level stuice gates, when the upstream emergency gate was opened withthe downstream gate closed, a situation equivalent to the opening ‘of an intake gate on an empty penstock. Incident 1 The intake in this example has a downstream skinplate gate, heated air vene house at deck level, and a wize cope hoist within 2 housing which is supporeed on a steel tower high enough to permit lifting che gate clear of the deck for painting and inspec tion. Downstream there is a long buried stel pipeline to the power house. The gate was originally operated from the power haat. ‘A technician was working on the gate controls in the hoist hhouse ad inadvertently let a jumper cable to disable che open ing halt at che prime position. On activating the open gate con trol inthe power house, the gate opened to the fll open position, despite all artempsto hale the operation. The air vent house was demolished in the ensuing expulsion of an aifwater mixture Gate opening controls were subsequently transferred tothe hoist house, where a master switch could be opened, euting of cle trical power o the hoist in the event of control malfunction, Incident 2 ‘Theinake hasan upstream skinplate andi ocated atthe head ‘ofa long pipeline. As inthe Rest incidence gate was inadver- tently opened to 900mm with about 200m of the pipe being empty, before opening could be stopped by the local operator Normal gate prime position is at 76mm. The water and aniwater mixture ited grating covering dhe a vent. Teas lie ineavy gate chamber stel covers, damaged some water level recording equipment and lited the root off the concrete gate control house located above the intake deck. The operator in the control house, although completly submerged in water, sf fered only minor gazes. The water was estimated to have risen about 3m above deck level to eascade out over the walls ofthe ontral house. The deck is about 7m above fal reservoir eel Fortunately, che gate has a hydraulic hoist and the rigidity of the operating cylinder and piston was sufficient to hold the gate in place against the upwelingae/watee inthe gate well. I the fae had Been equipped with a wie rope hist there sa strong possibility tha the gate would have been ejected from the y tell The cause was found to bea faulty fae switch incorrect W signaling pine fll condition, hus allowing the sate to open pact the prime position. ete er ees Cae need Incident 3 The intake has a downstream skinplate, with a wite rope hoist ‘on a tower and separate vent house. The water full pipeline had been shut down for several weeks, with water held against the turbine rotary valves, Unfortunately, one af the rotary valve bypass valves was leaking and water slowly drained from the pipe. The operator was instructed to determine the water level inthe intake air vent before initiating the opening sequence. Nor being able co sce the water surface, he poured some coffee [rom his thermos into the air vene and listened for the impact. Assured that he had heard the coffee striking a water sur face, he climbed the intake tower, pressed the ‘prime bypass” and opened the gate. The air/water mixture emerged from the air vent with such explosive force chat che air vent building was totally demolished, and the hand railing around the house was completely flattened (see above). Anyone standing inthe vein ity would have been severely injured. Fortunately, the operator had remained on the intake tower deck, so escaped any’ injury. An estimate of the leakage flow indicated that the pipe was between two-thirds and complete Iy fll, with the water level atthe intake well below sill level ‘The operator had heard the coffee striking a shallow pool of water on the concrete floor. Water level determination proce ures were changed to dropping afloat on a tape Incident 4 The Tm igh intake yeas a upstream kine, Nora pipe filling was through a small bypass valve and required 3 Considerable rime to fill che pipe. The operator wanted to pees Up the process anid instead cracked open the wate, Towards the end of the pipe filing, the gate eatapulted upwards by about 12mm. On dropping hack onto the sil, the Bottom 4m of the gate was desteaved along with che sill sealing plate ner dam with low lvel outlets, there are downstream Canter gates and upstream bulkhead gates with upstrean se With the conduc berween the gates empty, the by-pass valves were being opened when the gantry crane operators inadver tently cracked open the 3.6m high bulkhead gate, The yave catpulted upwards by 76m to deck level, to rest canted sideways, with 75% of the gate out ofthe guides, Fortunately there were no injuries, Incident 6 This project has low level outlets equipped with regulating. gates and, further upstream, emergency whecled closure gates. ‘The emergency gates have upstream skinplates and operate under head of 80m. With both gates closed, and the conduit empty, the emergency gate was opened ‘and catapulted upwards by about 3m to destroy the top seal on closure. Incident 7 ‘An upstream seal slide gate catapulted under ahead of only 21m. Incident 8 At this project there is a downstream skinplate gate ina tightly fising well. The air vent comprises a stall pipe about a metre downstream of the gate. Penstock filling is accomplished by cracking open the gate by just under 10mm, co avoid excessive velocities in the vent. In ths incident, the gate opening limit switch failed and the gate continued to open. Caleulations ind- ated tha the penstock fled when the gate had opened to about 660mm, and the ensuing watechammer was sufficient to catapult the gate to the deck where a pickup truck had been parked par- tially over the gate well. The pickup and wel cover were thrown inco the reservoir, Astel screen over the aie vent on the down- stream face of the dam was recovered about 400m away. Model studies undertaken in the US have shown that cat 18 of upstream skinplated gates ean occur when the area of the gate shaft is smaller than the gate opening. Normal the gate shaft om most intakes has an area of about 25-50 of the gate flow area. PREEFRRED \ETERN ATIVE From these incidents itis evident that there is abasic difer ence in the operating iss associated with upstream and down stream skinplate gates. With a downstream skinplate, the Upwelling air/water mixture encounters a smooth gate surlace and consequently cans it the gate, On the other hand, with an upstream skinplate the aefwater mixture encounters the horizontal beams supporting the gate pressure face an the fll area ofthe bottom beam. These beams provide sufficient pur chase for the aic/water mixture to lift the gate and ‘catapult the gate upwards, perhaps out of the gate slots if there is suf- ficient force, This scenario should be raken into aecountin any assessment of operating risks. From an operating standpoint, the preferred gate is one with a downstream skinplate, since there is no risk ofthe gate being ‘damaged by catapulting or ejected from the slots during a con- trol malfunction, provided the aie vent is generously sized. ‘With a downstream skinplace the risk of damage to the aie vent house can be minimised by appropriate design measures such as reinforced concrete walls on cheee sides, with a heavy roof and an expendable "blow-of’side located where no personnel would be at risk, This presents the gate designer with a dilemma. A down stream skinplate gate is more expensive but has les operational risks than an upsteeam skinplate, The only recourse is to dis cass advantages and disadvantages with the project owner ‘With fewer operating staff, and more reliance being placed ‘on electronic controls, automatic opening of intake gates is becoming more common, Under such conditions, i i su- sgested that downstream skinplaces offer the lower risk. This #opinion is based on the minimal extra cost of the additional concrete wall in the intake ~ added concrete only costs about half of the unit price ifthe concept is shown on the initial drawings. As for the hoist, at about double the eapacity ofthat for an equivalent upstream skinplate gate, the incremental cost is also minimal due to the current low cost of materials. Hoist costs are mainly a function of the manufecturing man-hours, rnot material cost, resulting in a doubling. of capacity only increasing hoist cos by about 30%. The hoist only represents about 35% of the toral gate, hoist and bedded part cost ‘With existing intake gates, the gate opening controls should bbe arranged so that a timer prevents the gate from opening past the prime position until the pipe is Full If this time is lengthy, oon long pipelines, the controls could be enhanced to include two float switches wired in parallel. If one or both of the switches indicates thatthe pipe i not fl then the timer would be energised to delay opening until the pipe filed. TW The author is an independent bydro consultant, Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada. H9S 421 Email: jinr-gordon@sympatico.ca