The Strépy-Thieu boat lift () lies on a branch of the Canal du Centre in the municipality of Le Rœulx, Hainaut,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. With a height difference of between the upstream and downstream reaches, it was the tallest boat lift in the world upon its completion in 2002, and remained so until the Three Gorges Dam ship lift in China was completed in January 2016.

History

The boat lift was designed during the Canal du Centre's modernisation program in order to replace a system of two locks and four lifts dating from 1888 to 1919. The canal itself began operations in 1879 and its locks and lifts were able to accommodate vessels of up to 300 tonnes. By the 1960s, this was no longer adequate for the new European standard of 1350 tonnes for

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

traffic, and a replacement was sought. Construction of the lift commenced in 1982 and was not completed until 2002 at an estimated cost of €160 million (then 6.4 billion BEF), but once operational, permitted river traffic of up to the new 1350-tonne standard to pass between the waterways of the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

and

Scheldt The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...

rivers. The lift increased river traffic from 256 kT in 2001 to 2,295 kT in 2006. The four older lifts on the Canal du Centre, which became bypassed by the new Canal du Centre, are on the

UNESCO World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by int ...

list, because of their architectural and historical value.

Design

The structure at Strépy-Thieu consists of two independent

counterweight A counterweight is a weight (object), weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a machine, mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves e ...

ed caissons which travel vertically between the upstream and downstream sections. Because of

Archimedes' Principle Archimedes' principle states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. Archimedes' principle is a law of physics fun ...

, the caissons weigh the same whether they are laden with a boat or simply contain water. In practice, variations in the water level mean that the mass of each caisson varies between 7200 and 8400 tonnes. The caissons have useful dimensions of and a water depth of between . Each caisson is supported by 112 suspension cables (for counterbalance) and 32 control cables (for lifting/lowering), each of diameter. The mass of the counterbalance was calculated to keep the tension in each of the control cables above at all times. The suspension cables pass over idler

pulley Sheave without a rope A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...

s with a diameter of . Four

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s power eight winches per caisson via speed-reduction

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

es and the lift is completed in seven minutes. The structure is massively reinforced to provide rigidity against torsional forces during operation and has a mass of approximately 200,000 tonnes. The vertically moving watertight gates are designed to withstand a impact from a 2000-tonne vessel. The boat lift is promoted as a tourist attraction in its own right by the government of Hainaut, with a ticket for a one-way ride on the lift costing €12.

References

External links

* *
Canal du Centre website

Construction of the boat lift, photographs of 1992.
from the Site of the Walloon regional archives (fr).
Construction of the boat lift, photographs of 1994
from the Site of the Walloon regional archives (fr). {{DEFAULTSORT:Strepy-Thieu Boat Lift Boat lifts Locks of Belgium Buildings and structures in Hainaut (province) Transport infrastructure completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Belgium

History

Design

See also

References

Further reading

External links