Innovation, challenges and extendibility of the construction
- As normal water control gates may prevent organisms downstream stream from moving upstream, fish ways are used to connect upstream and downstream ecological channels to reduce the impact of engineering projects on the habitat.
- Because the water blocked by the water control gate is used to provide nearby irrigation, if there are thunderstorms in the afternoon or at night, floods come and go rapidly. However, if the rubber dam falls at night, operating staff have no time to re-inflate it, and as a result there is no water available the next day. If rubber dams are used when the water level is low, they automatically inflate by injecting air for water storage and avoiding impacting farming operations.
- As the electronic automatic lodging cannot be operated when there is a power outage or equipment failure, a mechanical automatic lodging method is employed to assist and automatically inflate the rubber dam even if the water level is high.
- Because the rubber dam is affected by the intensity of sunlight in summer, the pressure inside the dam can change greatly. In order to ensure the water storage height (the pressure is too low and the water storage height is insufficient) and increase the user life of the rubber dam (to avoid excessive pressure), the pressure inside the dam automatically adjusts according to the water level.
- To avoid vibrations to the body of the dam when the stream overflows the rubber dam, which can lead to the loosening of fixtures on both sides, spoiler and wave breaker plates are used to reduce vibrations and extend the life of the rubber dam.
- By utilizing network remote operations and monitoring combined with rubber dam and water gate operations and offering on-site images, early warning broadcasts, and SMS notifications, operators can review online site status at workstations or residences where there is an Internet connection.
Excellent performance and significant benefits of the construction
- Improved the flood conveyance capacity of Tuniu River, by applying a lodging type rubber dam, and increasing the flood conveyance sections of the planned project area. After the improvement, the maximum planned flood level drop in the height of each section was 1.84m.
- Panzai Canal has an irrigation water volume of 0.39cm. Upon completion, the maximum water storage level of the rubber dam was EL=19.5m, which reached the maximum water intake of 0.84cm from the original water intake channel of Panzai Canal, maintaining the irrigation water demand of the canal.
- Parts of the upstream and downstream bank protection that were damaged and old were reviewed and improved in conjunction with the engineering project to ensure the safety of residents and their property on both sides.
- The ecological base flow rate in the project area is 0.0135cm, and fish ways were added to maintain ecological continuity in the basin.
- The engineering project combines network functions to utilize remote control, with existing information and network functions ensuring diversified rubber dam control functions are connected to Toufen Workstations and this office, which ensures situations can be dealt with in real-time.
- The overall improvement of the drainage gate offers advantages such as sufficient irrigation water, conserves underground water, reduces maintenance and management manpower, increasing the flood drainage section, and reducing siltation and weed overgrowth on the river channel that interfere with flood drainage.