Optimization of Sluice Gate under Fatigue Life Subjected for Forced Vibration by Fluid Flow

Abstract A ‘Sluice’ is a water-flow control gate works with sliding. So, it’s a mill race, flume or a penstock, channelling water towards a water mill, traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway. They are used in wastewater treatment of plants, and control water level and flow in watermills. However, Sluices are subjected to temperature, environment that supports corrosion, impact loading and so on. Many of those equipments operate during long time in industries and reliability is one of the most important aspects of work, there arose questions of reliability on those structural elements, because the people working nearby will be in danger due to involvement of heavy loaded parts during various possible working states. Considering these factors the gates used in industries are subjected for “Fatigue Analysis”, but the normal V-channel gates which undergo corrosion, wear and continuous stress due to water flow which leads to fatigue failure, loss of material and wastage of water are still in need of this analysis. Hence there is need of an analysis to optimize the gate in terms of material, shape, and size. This paper helps to determine the fatigue strength, wear life of Sluice gate in “V-Channels”. So, by using the ANSYS Workbench software, sluice gate is analysed for fatigue life under fluid flow.