Prof. HU Ya’an (left) attends the Convention and receives the Prize

2017 World Transport Convention was held in Beijing during Jun. 3 to 6, 2017. Mr. WAN Gang, Minister of Science and Technology of China attended the Opening Ceremony and made a speech. Government officials, academicians, specialists, professors and students from more than 40 countries and regions in the world gathered for discussions on innovation and development themed “Innovation First, Green Fusion”.

During the conference, China Institute of Navigation (CIN) held the conferring ceremony for 2016 CIN Science and Technology Progress Award. The project of Key Technical Research and Engineering Practice of Hydraulic Driven Ship Lift, presided over and completed by NHRI, won the Grand Prize of the Award. On behalf of the research team, Prof. HU Ya’an was present for the Prize.

Aiming at the solution of technical defects of operation reliability and safety control of traditional ship lifts in practice, Prof. HU Ya’an and his team develop a new type of hydraulic driven ship lift, integrating the respective technical advantages of traditional ship locks and ship lifts and utilizing hydraulic power as lift force and safety control measures. The research team conducted a pioneering study of hydraulic driven ship lift for 15 years by means of theoretical study, series physical model tests, numerical modelling, 3D virtual prototype technology and field prototype experiments, relying on the researches of National High Technology Research and Development Programs, projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Western Transportation Construction Science and Technology Projects and special projects of major engineering so as to establish a complete design theory and method of hydraulic driven ship lift. Significant breakthroughs were made in the aspects of hydraulic driven system design, operation stability and anti-overturning of ship chamber and docking control. The hydraulic driven ship lift technology with engineering application value was formed and successfully applied in the practical construction of Jinghong Hydropower Station, which realized the successful transformation from conceptual model into engineering application. The research achievements reached the international leading level in general after appraisal, with 27 national invention patents. After the new type of ship lift was put into operation in Jinghong Hydropower Station in 2015, in-situ observation data have indicated the good performance of the ship lift, and technical indicators were consistent with the design expectations. Compared with other types of ship lifts, it possesses greater advantages in the aspects of technical advancement, safety reliability, operation maintenance and economic rationality (not subject to lifting weight limit). It also demonstrates obvious superiority especially in coping with downstream water level variation and ship chamber leakage. It is more suitable for the working conditions of great lift tonnage and large variation of water level, representing the future development direction of ship lifts, and with broad application prospects. The research achievements have remarkably improved our international influence on high-dam navigation, created the Chinese brand of high dam navigation structures in the world, and forcefully boosted the technical progress of inland river transportation in China.