Parametric Finite Element Analysis And Structural Lightweight Design Of Radial Gate

Water shortage in our country is extremely serious. The regional distribution of water resource is uneven at the same time. About70%of the country’s total water resource is used for agricultural irrigation, but the effective utilization rate is very low, only30%-40%. The main reason is due to the backward irrigation facilities. The radial gates have no metrological function and dynamic adjustment to achieve on-demand water, leading to low water conveyance efficiency and serious waste of water resource, gates with function of remote automatic measurement play an important role in remote areas without power cable. It can fulfill metering in irrigation, water scheduling and management. As a result, the informationization, scientification and modernization of agricultural irrigation is realized. Eventually, water efficiency in agriculture is obviously improved.In the design process of radial gates, the iterative process of design-modeling-analyzing-modifying-modeling again-analyzing again are always required, so that, the efficiency of design and analysis is seriously affected. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the key components of radial gates by finite element method using parametric concept. In this article, the main work about parameterized finite element analysis and optimal design of radial gate is as following:(1) Compiling command procedure by means of APDL, the key parts’sizes of the radial gate are parameterized, including the stiffener spacing HI and H2, the thickness of the panel T1and T2, as well as the opening angle. The ultimate aim is to fulfill the whole parameterized finite element analysis procedure of the gate’s panel and the upper beam, including modeling of the gate, material property definition, meshing, constraints, loads, solving and post-processing. Identifying the factors affecting the deformation and stiffness of the gate’s key parts and the influencing rule. One of the key contents for equivalent treatment and elastic modulus of aluminum honeycomb panel is covered.(2) The structural optimization of the gate was achieved based on APDL. Firstly, the stiffener spacing HI and H2were optimized to ensure the distribution of the stiffener is the most reasonable. Thereby, the minimum deformation is ensured under the condition that the thickness is the same; then, the thickness of the panel T1and T2were optimized and analyzed. Eventually, the parameters’ optimal data were as follows:H1=697mm, H2=504.64mm, Tl=55.28mm, T2=51.54mm. The weight of the gate is387Kg, reduced obviously by17.5%. Lightweight design was implemented at last. Judging from the whole structure of the gate, weight reduction leads to not only reduction of manufacturing cost, but also the lower requirements of solar panels and electric motors. Thus, the overall cost was reduced greatly, which has long-term and practical significance for canal irrigation districts with relatively backward economy.