Drive Lines Provides
Synchronised Jacking System
For Precision Tilting On
Research Flumes
rom flood prevention to
resource protection, water
represents one of today's
biggest ecological challenges.
Tilting flumes are increasingly
providing engineers with
a key tool in the research of hydraulics and
sedimentology. The latest products from
Armfield offer the greatest levels of versatility,
thanks to an automated jacking system supplied
by Drives Lines Technologies Ltd.
F
People have intervened in the natural course
and behaviour of rivers since before recorded
history: to manage water resources, to protect
against flooding or to make passage along or
across rivers easier. Today, river engineering is
a major area of study, as civil engineers look to
understand flow dynamics, sediment transport
and subaqueous debris flow.
Many areas of study require, or are enhanced by
using, flumes (fixed length open channel water
ways) with tilting capability, providing either
positive or negative slope. Based in Ringwood
near Southampton, Armfield has been
104
PECM Issue 28
designing and supplying flumes to hydraulic
laboratories throughout the world for over 50
years.
Today the company offers a full
range of standard research flumes,
in different working lengths, a
variety of operating modes, and
with full computer control and
data logging capabilities.
Typically these flumes provide a high visibility
glass sided flow channel, constructed in a
rectangular prismatic section with a bed
fabricated from stainless steel.
The most important aspect of a tilting flume is
retaining the integrity of the working section to
maintain tolerances and ensure both accuracy
and repeatability. Achieving this requires an
extremely rigid design to ensure almost no
deflection regardless of load or tilt. The design
of the tilting system is crucial in guaranteeing
this stability.
Armfield recommends screw jacks, driven via
distribution gearboxes, for its flumes, in order to
achieve the best degree of repeatable accuracy
and stability given the size and weight of the
installation.
On long flumes, a series of jack stations are
used at different points along the length of the
flume. These have to be carefully linked in order
to avoid distortion of the main frame. Further,
on these long flumes, and particularly where
exceptional degrees of slope are involved, a
pivot mechanism at each station ensures a
vertical aspect to the jacks at all times.
To provide the critical jacking functionality on
its new S60 modular tilting flume with lengths
up to 30m, Armfield turned to Drive Lines.
Expert in mechanical drive systems, Drive
Lines represents leading mechanical power
transmission manufacturers from across the
world, and brings these components together
to provide reliable, versatile and cost effective
solutions.