Supporting Miter Gate Maintenance on the Upper Mississippi River
BDI has partnered with the St. Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to support ongoing maintenance operations at Lock & Dam sites along the Upper Mississippi River. In the winter, during the off-season for river traffic, these sites are dewatered on a scheduled cycle to allow for inspection and maintenance of key structural components, including the miter gates that control water flow and vessel passage.
A vital part of this maintenance often involves adjusting the tension in the diagonal members of each miter gate leaf to ensure proper alignment, safe operation, and balanced force distribution. Traditional methods such as “turn-of-nut” tensioning can be imprecise due to the complex interaction of forces between adjacent diagonals. To improve accuracy and reduce the risk of damaging the members, USACE engaged BDI to provide real-time stress measurements during the tensioning process.
To complete this monitoring, BDI installs strain gages on each diagonal member while the gate is in a slacked state, then monitors changes in axial stress throughout the tensioning procedure. These measurements are delivered in real time to the USACE engineer on site, enabling data-driven decisions that ensure each member is properly tensioned. This approach offers a significant advantage over conventional methods by directly quantifying internal forces and helping avoid member overloading or gate misalignment.
In addition to strain monitoring, BDI can deploy rotation and displacement sensors to assess the plumbness of each gate leaf, further supporting the goal of achieving a proper seal during gate operation. This integrated monitoring strategy has been successfully implemented at numerous Lock & Dam sites across the Upper Mississippi River system.
BDI is proud to support USACE in maintaining the safety, reliability, and longevity of our nation’s inland navigation infrastructure, ensuring that these essential systems continue to serve the shipping industry and the public for years to come.
