Lifting chain design for radial (tainter) gates and roller gates

Follow-up to a technical paper presented at the 2001 Infrastructure Systems Conference. Lifting chains (utilizing pins, rollers, and sidebars) are used extensively within the U.S. Corps of Engineers for both roller and tainter gates. The applications of this type of chain for Lock & Dams 3 through 10 on the Upper Mississippi River are discussed. All the lifting chains on these dam gates have been replaced as part of a major maintenance and major rehabilitation program. A number of different issues pertaining to lifting chain are examined. This includes material selection, corrosion prevention, first cost, and life cycle cost. An engineering analysis of this type of chain is presented, and maintenance issues are examined. Although sprockets and chain are interrelated, sprocket design is not analyzed in this paper.