Multiple world records? The ship lock is a hydraulic structure that is not ordinary

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The Three Gorges North Line Ship Lock started the planned suspension of navigation and maintenance in 2024

To ensure the safety of lock operation

Generally, each line of ship locks will be inspected every 4 years.

The maintenance is expected to resume flights on April 6

What are your thoughts on the role and characteristics of the lock?

How much do you know?

Today, let's take a look at

This unusual hydraulic structure

Locks

It is a device used to ensure the smooth passage of ships.

Box-shaped hydraulic structures with concentrated water level drop on the waterway

Most ship locks consist of a lock chamber, a lock head, a lock gate,

Pilot channel and corresponding equipment

The main working principle of the lock is

Filling and draining water into the channel controlled by gates at both ends

Thus raising and lowering the water level

Enables ships to overcome water level differences on the waterway

How the lock works

Locks on the river

According to the construction time, geographical location and functional role

Different characteristics are formed

Each plays a different role

China was the first country to build ship locks

There are many world-class locks.

Representing China's water conservancy sector

Unique hydraulic wisdom and craftsmanship

Schematic diagram of the distribution of steep gates in Lingqu Canal

Located in Xing'an, Guangxi, Lingqu Canal is the oldest ship lock canal in the world. The Lingqu Steep Gate is the predecessor of modern ship locks and the earliest navigation facility in the world. It is more than 2,000 years earlier than the Panama Canal ship locks that opened in 1914. It is known as the "Father of World Ship Locks" by the World Commission on Dams. Steep gates are gates set at steeper water flows. When the water is closed, the water level upstream can be raised. When it is opened, the water volume downstream can be increased, making it easier for ships to pass.

Schematic diagram of Chang'an Gate

Chang'an Lock is located in Chang'an Town, Haining City, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province. It was first built during the Zhenguan Period of the Tang Dynasty (627-649). It is the earliest double lock in the history of world water transport and the only existing double lock recorded in the International List of Canal Monuments. As an important heritage site of the Grand Canal of China, it pioneered the Australian system of canal locks, achieving multiple engineering goals of stabilizing the waterway, saving water, and recycling water. It is an important physical object reflecting the development of canal water conservancy facilities and changes in the canal channel.

Datangxia Hydropower Project Ship Lock

The Da Tengxia Hydropower Project is located in Guiping, Guangxi, and is known as the "Three Gorges Project" on the Pearl River. The Da Tengxia Hydropower Project ship lock consists of two upstream and downstream pilot channels, two upper and lower lock heads, and a lock chamber, with a total length of over 3,700 meters. It is the single-stage ship lock with the highest operating head in the world. The ship lock is designed to have a head of 40.25 meters, and the lower lock head miter gate is 47.5 meters high and 20.2 meters wide, which is equivalent to the height of a 16-story building. After the Da Tengxia Hydropower Project ship lock was put into use, the passing ships gradually became larger, and the tonnage increased from hundreds of tons before the trial navigation to 3,000 tons.

Aerial view of the Three Gorges double-line five-level ship lock

The Three Gorges Ship Lock is located in Yichang, Hubei. It is the inland ship lock with the most continuous stages, the highest total head and inter-stage water transfer head, and the most complex technology in the world. The lock has a vertical drop of 113 meters, and ships have to climb over the height of a 40-story building to pass through the lock. It has a total of 24 miter gates, two-thirds of which weigh 850 tons and cover an area close to two basketball courts. Its appearance and weight are the largest in the world. The lock can pass 10,000-ton fleets, and its designed annual one-way throughput capacity is 50 million tons.

Have you got all these new knowledge points?