A movable tsunami buffer dam has a unit configured such that a plurality of separate units, each of which having a shape in which a frame made of a light material is sandwiched by a pair of plates made of a light material, is stacked with said plates disposed in a pile; and a locking member for locking said unit to a ground surface such that said unit can rise up from said ground surface and collapse onto said ground surface. The separate units has a structure in which water from a tsunami can advance into a space formed between said plates by said frame.

A required thickness is ensured due to said unit being configured such that said separate units are stacked, and the manufacturing cost is reduced to a greater extent than in the case of a dam configured from a single separate unit of said required thickness, because the big size lumber for obtaining the units is very expensive. The unit is installed in a state of being collapsed on said ground surface at normal times, and when a tsunami arrives, said unit rising up due to the force of the tsunami and the buoyancy of the seawater, resisting the passage of the tsunami and reducing the power of the tsunami.

A movable tsunami buffer dam has a unit configured such that a plurality of separate units, each of which having a shape in which a frame made of a light material is sandwiched by a pair of plates made of a light material, is stacked with said plates disposed in a pile; and a locking member for locking said unit to a ground surface such that said unit can rise up from said ground surface and collapse onto said ground surface. The separate units has a structure in which water from a tsunami can advance into a space formed between said plates by said frame.

A required thickness is ensured due to said unit being configured such that said separate units are stacked, and the manufacturing cost is reduced to a greater extent than in the case of a dam configured from a single separate unit of said required thickness, because the big size lumber for obtaining the units is very expensive. The unit is installed in a state of being collapsed on said ground surface at normal times, and when a tsunami arrives, said unit rising up due to the force of the tsunami and the buoyancy of the seawater, resisting the passage of the tsunami and reducing the power of the tsunami.

An automated water control device comprises a rotatable housing that can be incrementally positioned to control flow of water over an upper or weir edge of the housing. The device is installed at a control point in an impoundment area, such as a settling pond. The housing is selectively rotated to raise and lower the height of the weir edge to a target gate height. Automatic control is provided for operation of the device by a controller communicating with an actuator. A system of the invention includes one or more water control devices and the controller. A method of the invention includes controlling flow of water from an impounded water source by use of the automated water control device. Manual or semi-automated embodiments are also disclosed.

An automated water control device comprises a rotatable housing that can be incrementally positioned to control flow of water over an upper or weir edge of the housing. The device is installed at a control point in an impoundment area, such as a settling pond. The housing is selectively rotated to raise and lower the height of the weir edge to a target gate height. Automatic control is provided for operation of the device by a controller communicating with an actuator. A system of the invention includes one or more water control devices and the controller. A method of the invention includes controlling flow of water from an impounded water source by use of the automated water control device. Manual or semi-automated embodiments are also disclosed.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve hydraulic systems and methods for altering a flow of a body of water, such as a river, channel, and/or other flowing or uncontained bodies of water. In one aspect, a hydraulic system provides a velocity barrier for the impedance of aquatic organism migration. More particularly, the velocity barrier may be adapted based on the swimming capabilities of one or more aquatic organisms to impede migration. The aquatic organism may be one or more species of fish, such as species sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). The example implementations shown and described herein reference the restriction of the sea lamprey. However, it will be appreciated that other aquatic organisms could be restricted by the presently disclosed technology, for example, with different hydraulic targets depending on swimming capabilities.

In order to structurally simplify a frame that is a component of a door body and to reduce required levels of manufacturing precision and assembly precision, thereby reducing a manufacturing man-hour, provided is a floating flap gate 1 installed on a road surface rs at an entrance portion of a building or an underground space. An upward swinging support portion is composed of a bottom fitting 5, a resin plate 6 configured to support a door body 4 when the door body 4 is raised, a water cut-off film 13 covering the bottom fitting 5 and the resin plate 6, a first pressing plate 14, and a second pressing plate 16. The bottom fitting 5 has a convex circular arc-shaped surface 5a. The resin plate 6 has a concave circular arc-shaped surface 6a to be mated with the convex circular arc-shaped surface 5a of the bottom fitting 5.

In order to structurally simplify a frame that is a component of a door body and to reduce required levels of manufacturing precision and assembly precision, thereby reducing a manufacturing man-hour, provided is a floating flap gate 1 installed on a road surface rs at an entrance portion of a building or an underground space. An upward swinging support portion is composed of a bottom fitting 5, a resin plate 6 configured to support a door body 4 when the door body 4 is raised, a water cut-off film 13 covering the bottom fitting 5 and the resin plate 6, a first pressing plate 14, and a second pressing plate 16. The bottom fitting 5 has a convex circular arc-shaped surface 5a. The resin plate 6 has a concave circular arc-shaped surface 6a to be mated with the convex circular arc-shaped surface 5a of the bottom fitting 5.

An Herodotus machine, or bottom-source, up-stair, hybrid pump and step lock system, includes synchronized reciprocating cross-gate displacers with commonly synchronized gates and floating body movers; specifically including a sequence of ascending adjacent step locks separated by gates with reciprocating gears on axles aligned over respective gates. A chain over each reciprocating gear has a displacer on each end, with one displacer in the upper lock and the other displacer in the lower lock. Rotating first, the downstream displacer descends to raise the lower lock water level, while the upstream displacer rises to lower the upper lock water level, and vice versa on the reverse gear rotation. Displacers are sized such that water levels in alternate pairs of upper lock and lower lock are made the same. The gate is then opened and a watercraft can be transferred from the lower lock to the upper lock or vice versa.

The invention relates to improved water control gates and related inflatable actuators, and associated sealing, manufacture and operation apparatus and methods. Advancements in technologies related to air fitting design, inflated bladder stress relief, inflatable bladder strength enhancement, water gate related slide friction mitigation, abutment and other impounded water seals, gate panel fabrication, traffic accommodating water impoundment structures, and water gate panel system operation efficiency, as well as nappe aeration, hinges, and bladder manufacture technology are disclosed herein.

The invention relates to improved water control gates and related inflatable actuators, and associated sealing, manufacture and operation apparatus and methods. Advancements in technologies related to air fitting design, inflated bladder stress relief, inflatable bladder strength enhancement, water gate related slide friction mitigation, abutment and other impounded water seals, gate panel fabrication, traffic accommodating water impoundment structures, and water gate panel system operation efficiency, as well as nappe aeration, hinges, and bladder manufacture technology are disclosed herein.