Andhra Pradesh: Megha begins setting up of hydraulic crust gates at Polavaram project

After Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's visit to Polavaram, a key development took place in the construction work. Megha Engineering has started the process of setting up the Polavaram Project Hydraulic Crust Gates in a manner that is rare in the world. Also, the construction of the arms (pivot) required for the installation of the key 48 gates in the project was undertaken. Earlier, the authorities started setting up of key gates to the spillway and started assembling the arm girders that lift the gates.

In this backdrop, special pujas were conducted by Megha company representatives and irrigation officials on Thursday morning. The arm girder was then attached to the 45 pillars. Project CE Sudhakar Babu said the arm guard was crucial for setting up the gates. The work on the 48 gates is expected to be completed by the end of May next year. Officials and representatives of the mega company are said to be cooperating fully to ensure that the work is completed within the stipulated time.

Each gate has eight arm girders with four each on the right and the left. In the same way there are four horizontal girders with which there are a total of 12 girders. The 48 gates have 384 arm girders and 192 horizontal girders each arm girder is 16 meters long. Arm girders, horizontal girders are assembled and then the skin plate is fitted. With the help of these arm girders the skin plate of the gates is raised. These arm girders are used to lift the gate as high as you want it to be.

The armrests are the basis for lifting and lowering the gates while the arm girders are formed by prestressing the trunnion girders. There are 8 skin plates per gate to lift the skin gate. Doing all these together will make the gate. The gates are lifted with the help of hydraulic cylinders. A total of 96 hydraulic cylinders are required for the 48 gates. Each gate is 20.835 meters high and 15.96 meters wide. 18,000 tons of steel will be used to build the entire gates where each gate weighs 275 tons.