Hoover Dam Cylinder Gate: Stoplog Sealant Alternatives

Project ID: 21105
Principal Investigator: Alexander Smith
Research Topic: Repair and Maintenance
Funded Fiscal Years: 2021
Keywords: None

Research Question

The research strategy for this proposal is to analyze the methods that federal, state and private industry use to seal stoplogs at dams. Other deployment methods and types of sealants will be discovered by the researcher. After various deployment methods and sealants are discovered, Reclamation will be able to analyze, and if worthwhile, emulate a more successful method of sealing the stoplogs. The expected outcomes of this proposal would be increasing Reclamation's knowledge of delivery methods and mixtures which would increase deployment precision, reduce the swelling inside the mechanism during deployment, and be less time consuming for dam personnel sealing the stoplogs. These outcomes may be due to either a different deploying method, alterations to the container, a different mixture being utilized to seal the stoplogs, or a combination of the three.

Need and Benefit

The cylinder gate at Hoover Dam is used to control the flow of water into the penstock intake towers. Stoplogs are a hydraulic engineering control elements that are used in floodgates to adjust the flow of water into a dam's intake into the penstock. The cylinder gate and stoplogs are used in conjunction to keep water from entering the intake, with the stoplogs in front of the gate. Despite the gate and stoplogs keeping a majority of the water from rushing in, a sealant must be used to stop water from entering small crevices between the stoplogs. There is a need for a better mechanism for deployment or a different type of sealant to seal the stoplogs. It is in Reclamation's interest to have a better tuned method of sealing the stoplogs at their dams.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

Research Products

Please contact research@usbr.gov about research products related to this project.

Return to Research Projects

Last Updated: 6/22/20