1-195

RADIAL AUTOMATIC GATES.

J. Lewin.
Lewin, Fryer and Partners, Richmond, Surrey, U.K.

1. INTRODUCTION.

Although radial automatic gates have been built and have been
operating during the last 50 years, their hydraulic behaviour
does not appear to have been analysed or in some cases, under-
stood. Thorne 1957 deals mainly with the geometric parameters
of design and Lewin 1980 explains their operation.
This paper describes the functioning of such gates, their
design features and by reference to previous work draws
attention to elements which can cause gate vibration or
instability.
The hydraulic design of radial automatic gates and matching
of the gate operating characteristics to specific upstream and
downstream stage-discharge relationships can be carried out
only by trial and error because of the many variables involv-
ed. A computer programme has therefore been developed to
rationalise the design process and to be able to test rapidly
the effect of changes in geometry and other variables.

2. OPERATION OF GATES.

2.1. Water level control

The gates are actuated by changes in water level and either
upstream or downstream water level can be controlled. The
former is usual in rivers and the latter in irrigation
channels. Figs:1 and 2 illustrate the most frequent arrange-
ment of upstream water level control. The radial arms which
support the skin plate assembly extend downstream of the
pivots to carry counterweights which balance the gate. Opera-
tion is through displacers in each side pier. The displacers
are attached to the radial arms by pivots, so that the forces
exerted on the gate, due to changes in displacer submergence,
cause the gate to open and close.
The gate control system comprises an intake upstream of the
gate protected by a screen. The intake is controlled by a

K. V. H. Smith (ed.), Channels and Channel Control Structures

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1984
1-196

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FIG.:1
6m WIDE GATE AT KEGWORTH
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