jedstivers":2nrxhn6m said:
greybeard":2nrxhn6m said:
My old style math sez that's about 98,000 gals per second.
KT, I would guess that the reason it is being pumped is because it's destination (Mississippi River) is running higher than the level of Jed's river. (St. Francis?)
And, It's Fairbanks Morse--not Morris.
(I used to work on 'em)
It is a big pumping station for sure, but it won't handle what Old River Control Structure or even Bonnet Carre can.
We may see both of those, as well as Morganza opened up this year.
Yep, I think they list it at 100,000 gps. Those other structures just open and free flow don't they? No pumping involved?
The engines are massive, they were WW2 surplus I have always heard. In 1983 in the firs big use of the system they had I think two runaway and melt down, they then shut the plant down and a lot was lost on the protected side. Have heard it was gas in the fuel and also it was some kind of reverse preventer that was taken off. Either way it was human error.
Yes, they are free flowing--gravity is a wonderful thing and the best part is it is everywhere. According to USCOE, in what they call the Project Flood or Design Flood, St Francis River and it's floodway will put 80,000 cu ft per second into the Mississippi R. Design flood is the most severe flood USCOE hydrologists can imagine within reason--a 1000 year type event. Old River can divert 620,000 CFS, Morganza relieves 600,000 cfs, and Bonnet Carre can run 1/4 million cfs with all it's timbers pulled.
All this, for USCOE to meet the congressional mandate that the Miss River flow forever to be maintained at a ratio of 70% flow to the Atchafalya getting only 30%---------regardless of Miss. river flood stage.
I wrote a lengthy article a few years ago about what would happen if Old River failed. It would be catastrophic, a disaster far worse than Hurricane Katrina and it would be irreversible. If Old Rver fails (washed away), the Miss R. will alter it's course down the Atchafalya basin and river channel and Miss River as far North as Baton Rouge will become brackish and soon begin to fill in since there will be no spring flood flow to help keep it scoured out. Someday when I have time, I will paste that over here to CT in another thread.
I assume the anti reverse thingies are to prevent water flow thru the pumps from turning the engines backwards in cases of high water levels on the output side. I can see how that would burn up an engine pretty quick. Some FM engines tho, will run in reverse by design--worked on an old tug that had 2 engines like that. To get reverse, the engine is shut down, a big lever is moved that shifts the cam shaft to a different set of lobes, a reverse rotation starter on the other side of the flywheel housing is engaged, and if all went well, the tug would be in "astern". It was nerve wracking to get it all done in a hurry and we hit the pier on several occasions when the engines didn't want to re-start.