Abstract: The ship lock of Datengxia hydraulic junction is the first single-stage ship lock with a water head over 40 m in the world and an effective chamber size of 280 m×34 m. Due to the features of single-stage ship lock and the chamber size, working head and conveyance time of the Datengxia ship lock, the conveyance water body, the maximum discharge and energy into the chamber are larger than those of the multi-stage ship lock in the Three Gorges Dam. In the original design, obvious problems of ship berthing in the chamber and cavitation in the valve segment were resulted from the high head, large chamber size, and high requirements for hydraulic indexes. In view of this, the layout pattern of conveyance system and the operation mode of valves were optimized through integral model test (1∶30) in association with pressure reduction test, local model test and mathematical calculation. The problems of ship berthing in the chamber and cavitation in the valve segment are addressed.

Key words: large-scale and super-high head shiplock, conditions of berth in the lock chamber, flow cavitation, holistic water filling in the bottom, automatic diversion outlet, valve operation mode