Photo: Thames Barrier holding back tidal surge.

Apologies for the quality, photobucket/Instagram have had their bit. Thought it was a great shot of The Thames Barrier at work last month.

Yeah that is cool.

Wow.

What I’d pay to see a specially-converted Lancaster in that shot….

So where the water in the river go?

I like that a lot !

Wave at me in the office !!

I’m waving back, honestly..

So, er, how reliable is the operation of the barrier?

Jsut wondering!

So where the water in the river go?

It’s a surge so the water will abate again (ie, go back whence it came) although of course some is let through the barrier too.

Stay classy, scotroutes.

So where the water in the river go?

The level in central that there London is dominated by tide, generally there is enough ‘space’ to fit high tide and flow from the fluvial (river bit) Thames. On rare occasions the barrier can be closed to hold back the tide and create a colossal storage basin if the fluvial flows are very high. This is a rare but becoming more frequent occurrence.

So, er, how reliable is the operation of the barrier?

It’s ok to wonder, we do it professionally. It’s operated and maintained to incredibly high standards (the control room is a marvellous place if you like buttons and schematics). It is however, a lot of moving kit in one of the most aggressive environments you can have. There are multiple back up sources of drive and power. The Environment Agency are constantly working on something there, usually thinking about the next thing too.

Nice pic.

Good to know my taxes are being spent wisely. Now how about diverting the Ribble through Blackpool to give it a good wash out?

Looks like a bit of low water beach riding to be had, RH side of the barrier…

On rare occasions the barrier can be closed to hold back the tide and create a colossal storage basin if the fluvial flows are very high. This is a rare but becoming more frequent occurrence.

Could you expand upon this ‘Fluvial Flows’?

Does any of this drive generators, I’m assuming would be too complex but, would be interested none the less.

any predictions as to what would have happened without the barrier there?

Could you expand upon this ‘Fluvial Flows’?

what comes down the thames, rather than the tidal bit.

What I’d pay to see a specially-converted Lancaster in that shot….

They could make a special aiming thingy that allowed them to line up on the towers of the barrier as well.

The North will rise again!

What I’d pay to see a specially-converted Lancaster in that shot….

Was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that photo!

How many years before they need a bigger / taller barrier?

Great pic – what’s the water level difference on the pic?

As for thread in general I can sense the direction it’s going in…

They could make a special aiming thingy that allowed them to line up on the towers of the barrier as well.

The North will rise again!

Under current Defra funding rules the bombed barrier would qualify for funding for repairs, the limited pot of National money would mean that other schemes with lower benefit cost ratios might get postponed. Your outcome may not be as you desired…

There isn’t any power generation on the Barrier, it’s a busy waterway, not sure how it could be fitted but maybe one day. There are a few Archimedes screw generators upstream, one in Osney, Oxford and one in Windsor that I know of.

How many years before they need a bigger / taller barrier?

It’s even more complex a picture than it first seems. Before you haul those gates up from the river bed there are other huge barriers that must be closed:

Barking;

Dartford

and a few others, there are hundreds of smaller gates as well. Closing the barrier raises the level ‘outside’ of London (The Estuary side). All of the embankments and watercourses on ‘that side’ of the barrier are raised or similarly protected by gates. If London keeps growing Eastward then the complexity of the infrastructure needed will increase. It then becomes a marginal economic case to build a bigger barrier further out in the Estuary.

pictonroad – Member
It’s operated and maintained to incredibly high standards (the control room is a marvellous place if you like buttons and schematics).

Yes, we were up on the roof area of the control block for months years ago so got guided tours of how it all works. Great spot to sit and watch the world go by on a summer evening

It certainly is.

They could just flood London and we’d be rid of Westminster….

There’s a tunnel under it too, and bikes… No strava signal though.

Is that the Defra of 17 Smith Square, London ?

They’d be getting a wash too.

😉

@ pictonroad

When it’s closed, how much sedimentation do you get on the upstream side? Are the release gates designed to let through a certain amount of sediment?

Thought it was a great shot of The Thames Barrier at work last month.

WTF were you working on up there? 😯

The design takes care of that, all gates on Tidal rivers are operated in a particular manner to ‘self cleanse’. You partially close it on a high tide and the force of the water clears the silt.

Problems can occur during prolonged closed or opened periods for maintenance, silt can set like concrete if it’s allowed to dry.

We had 20 tonnes of silt at one point when I managed a project on The Dartford Creek Barrier. It plays havoc with designing the drive systems.

Problems can occur during prolonged closed or opened periods for maintenance, silt can set like concrete if it’s allowed to dry.

That’s what I was getting at. Thanks for the reply.

Now how about diverting the Ribble through Blackpool to give it a good wash out?

The EA has rules about polluting the Irish Sea.

There isn’t any power generation on the Barrier, it’s a busy waterway, not sure how it could be fitted but maybe one day. There are a few Archimedes screw generators upstream, one in Osney, Oxford and one in Windsor that I know of.

There’s also one at Mapledurham (just upstream of Reading), another shortly after at Sonning, one at Culham near Abingdon. There’s a big one being built at Sandford as well as a couple of others being planned elsewhere on the Thames.

This is one of the most interesting thread on STW in a while

I cycled part of the Thames Path last weekend and saw the Barking barrier (open), I was wondering what that was

Excellent thread. Pictonroad, you are definitely my new favourite nerd. Hit me with some more facts please

pictonroad – Member

Barking;

Been up on the roof of that for work as well, scary as hell. The wall around the edge is about a foot and a half high and you are very, very up in the sky, scared the crap out of me being up there. They also had some sort of open lift shaft, presumably for balling kit up that you could peer over the edge of 🙁

and this is why we love this place. It’s way better than google

Been up on the roof of that for work as well, scary as hell. The wall around the edge is about a foot and a half high and you are very, very up in the sky, scared the crap out of me being up there. They also had some sort of open lift shaft, presumably for balling kit up that you could peer over the edge of

Some of the safety kit on the early 80s built kit can be shocking. It’s counter intuitive. It’s all being updated slowly but as you can imagine, it’s not cheap.

At what point might rising sea levels cause a problem?

DCB by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

I project managed a £12m refit on the Dartford Creek Barrier a few years back. The two gates are 30m long and can be lifted above river traffic.

DCBview by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

They open on a slant and slide next to each other face to face with the supporting webbing on the backs of each gate.

DCB by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

The towers go above ground seven stories and below five (memory is hazy, it’s in that order…) In each tower there are four water tanks holding 30tonnes of water per tank. There is an deviously complicated system of locking pins, counter weights and pumps that to hand operate. In an absolute emergency you could, in theory move them by hand by changing the balance of counterweights. In practice we have portable hydraulic power systems we drag in on trailers and plumb in to the old thing.

You’d recognise the drive system, it’s basically an incredibly big, and expensive bike chain, made by a bike chain manufacturer in Europe.

WT4Z5106[1] by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

Also got a standard type of Disc Brake in there. Technically it’s a fixie with disc brakes, pretty niche.
DCB by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

The view up the towers gives me the willies, the sheer scale of the kit and how it’s hanging above you:

DCB by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

DCB by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr

Changing the chain is something of a saga, not on the Park website:

100_0245 by pictonroad[/url], on Flickr