THE FALKIRK WHEEL

A unique engineering achievement

The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world's first and only rotating boat
lift. Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious £84.5m Millennium
Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the
historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals.

The major challenge of the project lay in the fact that the Forth & Clyde
Canal is situated 35 meters below the level of the Union Canal.
Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by
a sequence of 11 locks enclosed sections of canal in which the water
level could be raised or lowered - that stepped down across a distance
of 1.5 km. This had been dismantled in 1933, thereby breaking the link.
When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways
authority were keen to create a dramatic twenty-first century landmark
which would not only be a fitting commemoration of the Millennium,
but also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region.

Numerous ideas were submitted for the project, including concepts

ranging from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, from giant see saws to
overhead monorails. The eventual winner was a plan for the huge
rotating steel boat lift which was to become The Falkirk Wheel. The
unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by
various sources, both manmade and natural, most notably a Celtic
double-headed axe, but also the vast turning propeller of a ship, the
ribcage of a whale or the spine of a fish.

The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and
assembled, like one giant toy building set, at Butterley Engineering's
Steelworks in Derbyshire, some 400 km from Falkirk. A team is there.
carefully assembled the 1,200 tons of steel, painstakingly fitting the
pieces together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final
fit. In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and
transported on 35 lorries to Falkirk, before all being bolted back
together again on the ground, and finally lifted into position in five
large sections by crane. The Wheel would need to withstand immense
and constantly changing stresses as it rotated, so to make the structure
more robust, the steel sections were bolted rather than welded
together. Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and
each bolt was hand-tightened.

The Wheel consists of two sets of opposing axe-shaped arms, attached

about 25 meters apart to a fixed central spine. Two diametrically
opposed water-filled 'gondolas', each with a capacity of 360,000 litres,
are fitted between the ends of the arms. These gondolas always weigh
the same, whether or not they are carrying boats. This is because,
according to Archimedes' principle of displacement, floating objects
displace their own weight in water. So, when a boat enters a gondola,
the amount of water leaving the gondola keeps the Wheel balanced
and so, despite in five and a half minutes while using very little power.
It takes just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 MJ) of energy to rotate the Wheel -
roughly the same as boiling eight small domestic kettles of water.

Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the
Forth & Clyde Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel.
Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from
the water in the canal basin. The water between the gates is then
pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel
from moving while the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the
Wheel to turn. In the central machine room, an array of ten hydraulic
motors then begins to rotate central axe. The axle connects the outer
arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a
revolution per minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in
the upright position by a simple gearing system. Two eight-meter-wide
cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width, connected by two
smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs, so
ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the gondola
reaches the top, the boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24
meters above the canal basin.

The remaining 11 meters of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is

achieved by means of a pair of locks. The Wheel could not be
constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre difference between
the two canals, owing to the presence of the historically important
Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century
AD. Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks,
and finally on to the Union Canal.
 Reducing the Effects of Climate Change
Mark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineering
projects being explored by scientists
A. Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and such is the volume of
carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere, that many
experts agree that significant global warming is now inevitable. They
believe that the best we can do is keep it at a reasonable level, and
present, the only serious option for doing this is cutting back on our
carbon emissions. But while a few countries are making major strides in
this regard, the majority are having great difficulty even stemming the
rate of increase, let alone reversing it. Consequently, an increasing
number of scientists are beginning to explore the alternative of
geoengineering, a term which generally refers to the intentional large-
scale manipulation of the environment. According to its proponents,
geoengineering is the equivalent of a backup generator: if Plan A -
reducing our dependency on fossil fuels - fails, we require a Plan B,
employing grand schemes to slow down or reverse the process of
global warming.

B. Geo-engineering has been shown to work, at least on a small,

localized scale. For decades, May Day parades in Moscow have taken
place under clear blue skies, aircraft having deposited dry ice, silver
iodide, and cement powder to disperse clouds. Many of the schemes
now suggested look to do the opposite, and reduce the amount of
sunlight reaching the planet. The most eye-catching idea of all is
suggested by Professor Roger Angel of the University of Arizona. His
scheme would employ up to 16 trillion-minute spacecraft, each
weighing about one gram, to form a transparent, sunlight-refracting
sunshade in an orbit 1.5 million km above the Earth. This could, argues
Angel, reduce the amount of light reaching the Earth by two per cent.
C. The majority of geo-engineering projects so far carried out which
include planting forests in deserts and depositing iron in the ocean to
stimulate the growth of algae, have focused on achieving a general
cooling of the Earth. But some look specifically at reversing the melting
at the poles, particularly the Arctic. The reasoning is that if you
replenish the ice sheets and frozen waters of the high latitudes, more
light will be reflected into space, so reducing the warming of the oceans
and atmosphere.

D. The concept of releasing aerosol sprays into the stratosphere above

the Arctic has been proposed by several scientists. This would involve
using Sulphur or hydrogen sulphide aerosols so that sulphur dioxide
would form clouds, which would, in turn, lead to a global dimming. The
idea is modelled on historic volcanic explosions, such as that of Mount
Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which led to a short-term cooling of
global temperatures by 0.5 °C. Scientists have also scrutinised whether
it's possible to preserve the ice sheets of Greenland with reinforced
high-tension cables, preventing icebergs from moving into the sea.
Meanwhile in the Russian Arctic, geo-engineering plans include the
planting of millions of birch trees. Whereas the region's native
evergreen pines shade the snow and absorb radiation, birches would
shed their leaves in winter, thus enabling radiation to be reflected by
the snow. Re-routing Russian rivers to increase cold water flow to ice-
forming areas could also be used to slow down warming, say some
climate scientists.

E. But will such schemes ever be implemented? Generally speaking,

those who are most cautious about geo-engineering are the scientists
involved in the research. Angel says that his plan is 'no substitute for
developing renewable energy: the only permanent solution'. And Dr
Phil Rasch of the US-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is
equally guarded about the role of geo-engineering: 'I think all of us
agree that if we were to end geo-engineering on a given day, then the
planet would return to its pre-engineered condition very rapidly, and
probably within ten to twenty years. That's certainly something to
worry about.'

F. The US National Center for Atmospheric Research has already

suggested that the proposal to inject sulphur into the atmosphere
might affect rainfall patterns across the tropics and the Southern
Ocean. 'Geo-engineering plans to inject stratospheric aerosols or to
seed clouds would act to cool the planet, and act to increase the extent
of sea ice,' says Rasch. 'But all the models suggest some impact on the
distribution of precipitation.'

G. A further risk with geo-engineering projects is that you can

"overshoot",' says Dr Dan Lunt, from the University of Bristol's School
of Geophysical Sciences, who has studied the likely impacts of the
sunshade and aerosol schemes on the climate. 'You may bring global
temperatures back to pre-industrial levels, but the risk is that the poles
will still be warmer than they should be and the tropics will be cooler
than before industrialization. To avoid such a scenario, Lunt says
Angel's project would have to operate at half strength; all of which
reinforces his view that the best option is to avoid the need for geo-
engineering altogether.

H. The main reason why geo-engineering is supported by many in the

scientific community is that most researchers have little faith in the
ability of politicians to agree and then bring in the necessary carbon
cuts. Even leading conservation organizations see the value of
investigating the potential of geoengineering. According to Dr Martin
Sommerkorn, climate change advisor for the World Wildlife Funds
International Arctic Programme, 'Human-induced climate change has
brought humanity to a position where we shouldn't exclude thinking
thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities.'