General | 11. February 2021 Time- and cost-efficient Mitre gate guide grouting in steel hydraulic engineering

In hydraulic steel engineering, the time factor plays one of the main roles, because no construction or repair measure can do without taking this difficult factor into account. Be it as the “ravages of time” with its unpleasantly disintegrating character or be it in the all-dominating role as “time is money”.

This connection is particularly evident in the area of transport infrastructure, since interruptions to operations due to repair work have a particularly painful impact here, both financially and economically.

Therefore, time-saving processes for the refurbishment of steel hydraulic engineering are required to reduce effort and time for repair and assembly. This is exactly what is possible with the gap equalization material of the German DIAMANT Metallplastic GmbH, the gap compensating material MM1018. In January 2013, the product was the first of its kind to receive general building supervision approval from the German Institute for Building Technology (DIBt). It has since been used on more than 1000 structures, most of which have been used in steel hydraulic engineering.

One of the most common applications is that of mitre gate guide grouting with MM1018 liquid as Alternative to classic shim. The advantages of MM1018 over the shims are, it fits no matter how the mitre gate guides must be aligned and how the gap is designed. It is anti-corrosion which prevents the gaps from corrosion, which is a critical issue in linings, whereby the mitre gate guide longer resists the demanding conditions in steel hydraulic engineering. MM1018 can be applied very easily due to its liquid shape and offers the 100% force and form fitting in contrast to shims, which,  depending on the complexity of the  column, cannot meet any full-surface contact between the mitre gate and the mitre gate guide. 

 The title picture shows a lock on the Moselle where we cast 21 mitre gate guides within only 2 working days. The special challenge here was to fill the gate, which had to be aligned in the closed state, with our MM1018, as this made accessibility considerably more difficult, but due to the liquid consistency MM1018 could be applied without any problems and the navigation blockage could be observed.