Author(s): Mario J. Sanchez
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The no. 22 and no. 25 locks in the Mississippi River are key projects in the USACE's Navigation Improvements Plan for the Upper Mississippi River. One of the innovative designs being considered for these sites is extending the river lock walls of the existing 182.88 m locks to be used as part of the filling and emptying system of new 388.62 m long locks. The similarities between both projects led the St. Louis and Rock Island Districts of the USACE to create a single laboratory physical model that can simulate conditions at both sites. Project constraints introduced challenges for the research team in order to achieve a safe lock operation on both sites while keeping the filling and emptying times as short as possible. Research on these systems has determined minimum filling and emptying times, with acceptable hawser forces, minimal surface drift, and disturbance. This paper presents the modeling methods used to establish design criteria. This criterion is necessary for design engineers investigating the 205.7 m extension of the Lock no. 22 and Lock no. 25 projects.
Year: 2009