Hydraulic Design of Columbia River Navigation Locks

Some of the highest lift navigation locks in the world are located on the Columbia River Basin Projects. Locks at McNary Damon the Columbia River, near Plymouth, Ore.-Wash., and The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River, near Dalles, Ore.-Wash., have maximum lifts of 92 and 90.5 ft, respectively. These will be exceeded for a brief period by the new Wilson lock on the Tennessee River near Sheffield, Ala., which will have a lift of 101 ft. The Ice Harbor lock near Pasco, Wash., on the Snake River, the main tributary of the Columbia River, will have a maximum lift of 103 ft when completed in 1961. This in turn will be exceeded by the John Day Lock on the Columbia River, near Arlington, Ore. -Wash., scheduled for completion in 1966, which will have a maximum lift of 113 ft. Many recently developed improvements are incorporated in the design of the hydraulic systems for these locks. As a result of the increased lock lifts, the rapidly expanding volume of traffic and the demands of the navigation interests, the designers have been forced to develop many of these improvements, frequently with the aid of hydraulic model studies. The tremendous improvements in the filling systems are reflected by the almost complete lack of turbulence in the lock chambers of McNary and The Dalles locks, as compared to the very turbulent condition in the Bonneville lock on the Columbia River, near Portland, Ore. The model studies indicate that even less turbulence will occur in the Ice Harbor lock.