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Project Details

Fabric 1

Plug-in-welded geocells
Producer/Manufacturer: OTHER
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Engineer Name 1
Yongkong Wei

Engineer Company 1
Deke International

Please describe the project specifications

The Sunliangzhou lock is located at the strategic convergence of the Yangtze River's "Golden Waterway" and the historical Laojiang River.The Yangtze, as the mother river of the Chinese nation, has given rise to key sites of Chinese civilization, such as Sanxingdui in the upper reaches, Shijiahe in the middle reaches, and Liangzhu in the lower reaches. It also supports around 450 million people along its banks. The Laojiang River, a living fossil of the Yangtze's natural evolution, holds irreplaceable cultural and geographical value, with its winding banks preserving the historical changes of the Jingjiang River section.

The Sunliangzhou lock is crucial for flood prevention and drainage in the Sanyang Town area and safeguards the flood control of the Wuhan Metropolitan Area. Previously, unprotected bends in this region suffered varying degrees of erosion, with some slopes even collapsing. This threatens not only the basin's safety but also the Yangtze's historical river features and aquatic habitats. Thus, enhancing riverbank and slope protection at the sluice gate is urgent. However, traditional protective structures can't meet the long-term safety requirements.

The implementation of the Sunliangzhou Lock channel slope and bank protection project represents the pioneering application of a construction technique utilizing high-strength geocell slope surfaces cast with concrete, innovatively replacing the traditional method of installing hexagonal or square precast concrete blocks. This approach aims to fundamentally resolve the issue of bank erosion in the lock confluence zone through technological innovation, ensuring the integrity of the flood control system, validating the applicability of the high-strength geocell-concrete composite structure in major water conservancy projects, and establishing a new paradigm for revetment that combines enhanced durability with improved construction efficiency.

Facing a complex river channel environment and a tight schedule, the high-strength geocell cast-in-place concrete slope protection process demonstrated significant construction efficiency advantages over the traditional method of laying hexagonal or square concrete blocks. This method enabled the casting of slopes covering an 11x60 meter area on both channel sides within just two days. Furthermore, it substantially reduced labor intensity and manpower requirements compared to the physically demanding traditional block laying, halving the necessary workforce. To mitigate geocell buoyancy caused by the fluidity of fresh C15 concrete and ensure uniform thickness control, the number of "L"-shaped or "U"-shaped anchoring pins per square meter was increased after geocell placement. This effectively anchored the skeleton layer securely to the gravel base, preventing issues with non-uniform thickness in the overall cast concrete layer.

The project has successfully withstood the test of three Yangtze River flood seasons to date. The successful implementation of this project has not only timely and effectively reinforced the slope stability at the critical Sunliangzhou Lock flood control and drainage point, eliminating safety hazards and ensuring the normal operation of the lock and regional flood safety, but more importantly, it serves as a benchmark innovative practice. It provides a valuable engineering case study and instills technical confidence for the large-scale promotion and application of high-strength geocell-concrete technology in key water conservancy hubs and waterway protection projects of major rivers. This project demonstrates the immense potential of this technology in enhancing the resilience of infrastructure.

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