Canal Sealing Webs on Floating Platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for sealing canals in a water-bearing state are inefficient, costly, and prone to leaks due to issues with bentonite mats and submerged concrete, which require draining the canal, causing structural stress and environmental disruptions.
Innovation Solution
A canal sealing system using plastic sealing webs deployed on a working platform that spans the canal, allowing for secure connection and alignment of sealing webs above the water level, with a differential water level method to lower the webs onto the canal base, ensuring a reliable and leak-proof seal without draining the canal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the canal is drained for sealing, then the base surface and lateral inclines can be sealed, but high costs and additional time are incurred and structural stress occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing components are prepared and positioned on a working platform above the water level before being lowered into the canal. This preliminary preparation allows for quality control and proper alignment without the need to drain the canal, thereby maintaining canal operation while ensuring sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
A working platform serves as an intermediary structure that enables the assembly and positioning of sealing components above water level. This intermediate platform allows workers to prepare sealing webs and connect them properly before deployment, eliminating the need to drain the canal while ensuring proper sealing installation.
2Ease of operation
If bentonite mats are used for sealing, then sealing in water-bearing state is possible, but overlapping joints cannot be controlled and tightness is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sealing webs are connected together on the working platform above water level before being lowered into the canal. This preliminary connection allows for controlled and inspected joints, ensuring sealing tightness while maintaining the ability to operate in water-bearing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the reliance on bentonite mat swelling and overlapping joints with a mechanical connection system where sealing webs are directly connected on the working platform. This substitution provides controlled, inspectable joints with guaranteed tightness rather than relying on material swelling behavior.
3Reliability
If bentonite mats with sand layer are used to improve tightness, then sealing tightness improves, but the mats become very narrow requiring many overlapping joints
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sealing webs are pre-connected on the working platform to form a continuous, wide sealing structure before deployment. This preliminary assembly creates a broad sealing coverage in a single unit, eliminating the need for numerous overlapping joints that would result from using narrow pre-fabricated mats.
4Reliability
If submerged concrete is applied for sealing, then canal bottom sealing is achieved, but thickness control is difficult and cracks occur on settling
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses flexible sealing webs made of plastic or rubber materials instead of rigid submerged concrete. These thin film structures can conform to the canal bottom geometry and settle without cracking, while their uniform thickness is controlled during manufacturing rather than during application, ensuring both precision and reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides a reliable, cost-effective, and efficient method to seal canals in a water-bearing state, minimizing structural stress and environmental impact by allowing continuous operation during sealing, with easily inspectable weld seams and adaptable to various canal geometries.
Implementation Method 1
a canal working platform (24) for the sealing of canals and other watercourses in a water-bearing state, which comprises a support structure and a working surface (26) held by the support structure
Implementation Method 2
A further embodiment provides a canal sealing system, in which a canal working platform and a pumping station are provided, by which water is able to be pumped from one side of the canal working platform to the other and a differential water level is able to be produced
Data Source
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AI summary
In order to make available a favourably-priced and reliable sealing of canals (12) or other watercourses in a water-bearing state, a canal working platform and a sealing method are proposed, in which the following steps are provided: arranging a working surface (26) above the water surface (22) of the canal (12) which is to be sealed, wherein the working surface (26) spans at least a portion of the water-bearing region of the canal (12); deployment of a first sealing web (32a) of a web-shaped sealing material (32) with at least one edge on the working surface (26); deployment of a second sealing web (32b) of the sealing material (32) on the working surface (26), wherein the second sealing web (32b) is deployed at least with one edge on the working surface (26) and is aligned to the first sealing web (32a); connecting at least one partial region of the adjoining edges of the first and of the second sealing web (32a,32b) on the working surface (26); moving the working surface (26) in relation to the sealing webs (32a,32b) which are connected together in longitudinal direction of the canal (12), wherein the connected sealing webs (32a,32b) are fixed in position in relation to the canal (12), and wherein the sealing webs (32) remain with their not yet connected edge regions on the canal working platform; and lowering of the free region of the sealing webs (32) which are connected together onto the canal base (16).