Sluice Gate Stiffener Segmentation for Fatigue Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sluice gates face challenges in fatigue resistance due to numerous welds, which weaken the structure under cyclic stresses, and require complex manufacturing with precise recesses for tubular stiffeners to ensure solidity.
Innovation Solution
A sluice gate design featuring a planar side plate with thin, parallel webs and tubular stiffeners that do not cross the webs, reducing the need for transverse welds and simplifying manufacturing by using multipart tubular elements aligned along the stiffener axis, secured on either side of the webs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional lock gates use numerous welds to connect horizontal webs, vertical stiffeners, and secondary horizontal stiffeners to the shell plating, then the structure can withstand hydraulic pressure, but the fatigue resistance deteriorates due to stress concentrations at weld crossings
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffeners are divided into multiple discrete elements positioned at specific locations (corners and intermediate positions) rather than forming continuous welded joints across the entire structure. This segmentation reduces the number of weld crossings while maintaining structural integrity by strategically placing stiffening elements where they are most needed to resist hydraulic pressure and fatigue loads.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and eliminates the secondary horizontal stiffeners that create numerous weld crossings in conventional designs. By removing these redundant stiffeners and replacing them with strategically positioned stiffener elements, the design reduces weld complexity while maintaining or improving fatigue resistance.
2Strength
If tubular stiffeners extend through recesses in horizontal webs with precise dimensions, then the weld solidity and bending resistance are improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases due to the need for precise recess dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
Stiffeners are segmented into discrete elements positioned at corners and intermediate locations rather than forming continuous structures through precise recesses. This segmentation allows for simpler manufacturing without requiring high-precision recess dimensions, while maintaining bending resistance through strategic placement of stiffening elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The design accepts less precise, easier-to-manufacture stiffener elements positioned at key locations rather than investing in expensive precision machining of recesses. The stiffeners are designed to be simple structural elements that provide sufficient bending resistance without requiring high manufacturing precision.
3Stability of the object's composition
If transverse welds extend in a vertical direction to connect stiffeners across horizontal webs, then the structural rigidity is improved, but the resistance to stress variations with liquid height deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous transverse welds extending vertically across the entire structure, the invention uses segmented stiffener elements positioned at specific heights (corners and intermediate positions). This segmentation allows the structure to better accommodate stress variations with liquid height while maintaining rigidity where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Stiffening is applied locally at specific positions (corners and intermediate locations) rather than uniformly across the entire structure. This local quality approach provides adequate rigidity at critical stress points while allowing the structure to flex and accommodate stress variations in other areas, improving resistance to stress variations with liquid height.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a water-gate (100) that is intended to withstand pressure exerted by a liquid, said water-gate comprising: an essentially flat shell plate (1); and a plurality of thin cores (2) extending along the length of the shell plate (1), substantially parallel to one another. Each core (2) is solidly connected to the shell plate (1) and pierced with multiple disjoint holes (201-207). According to the invention, the water-gate (100) comprises at least one stiffener (401-404) formed by assembling multiple elements which are aligned along a longitudinal axis of the stiffener (401-404) and which each extend between the cores (2) without passing through said cores (2). Each element is solidly connected to a face of at least one core (2) around one of the holes (201-207).