On July 23, the first water conveyance culvert of the mid-level water-saving pool at the Qishi hub of the Pinglu Canal was successfully capped. This marks the first completion of capping for a mid-level water-saving pool water conveyance culvert along the entire Pinglu Canal, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent construction of water conveyance culverts for the ship lock water-saving pools.

The photo shows the concrete pouring site for the first water conveyance culvert of the mid-level water-saving pool at the Qishi hub of the Pinglu Canal. Photo courtesy of Pinglu Canal Group.

The Pinglu Canal is a backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, comprising three major navigation hubs: Madao, Qishi, and Qingnian.

The Qishi hub of the Pinglu Canal adopts a superimposed layout design for high-level and low-level water-saving pools. The mid-level water-saving pool is arranged in parallel alongside the combined high-level and low-level water-saving pool structure, in a stepped layout. Through the interconnection of the ship lock chamber and the three water-saving pools, the operation of the Qishi hub ship lock can save up to 60% of water consumption, achieving full and intensive utilization of water resources.

The first water conveyance culvert of the mid-level water-saving pool poured this time has a complex and variable structure, involving construction of multiple irregular sections. The construction section is 13.6 meters long and 14.4 meters wide, using a concrete distributor for pouring, with a total of 583 cubic meters of concrete poured and a maximum pouring thickness of 2 meters.

The construction management team, composed of the Pinglu Canal Group and participating units such as Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Kexing Project Management Co., Ltd., and CCCC First Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd., built a smart mixing plant to effectively ensure the efficient and continuous supply of pre-cooled concrete; optimized the temperature control plan for mass concrete, developed mass concrete temperature control equipment, and actively overcame the impact of high temperatures and extreme heat, ensuring concrete performance throughout the entire process from discharge to placement and conveyor transport, effectively overcoming the challenge of continuous mass concrete pouring under high-temperature conditions and ensuring project quality.

Next, the Pinglu Canal construction management team will advance the project construction with high standards and high quality, rationally allocate resources, efficiently organize production, and go all out to build a high-quality project, a green project, and a clean project.