Did you know that…there are gigantic hydraulic lifts for boats? (II)

Operation

The four elevators continue to operate in the same way as when they were designed, based on the principle of communicating vessels. Each elevator consists of two tanks, each of which is supported by a large steel piston, with a hydraulic connection between the two.

In the initial position (one tank at the top and the other at the bottom), both are balanced because the amount of water they contain is the same. Once the ships enter the tanks, the tank at the bottom is gradually partially emptied. This gradual emptying causes the lower tank to lose weight, which leads to the lower tank (heavier) to fall and the lower tank (lighter) to rise. This movement responds to the combined laws of hydraulics and dynamics, as both masses try to reach a point of equilibrium.

In this way, after a process that lasts a few minutes, the tanks reach the opposite position to the initial one. The progressive emptying of the water from the lower tank causes the water level in which the boat floats inside the tank to be lower than that of the canal when it reaches the upper part. Therefore, once the tanks have stopped and the elevator is blocked, the upper tank is filled until it reaches the water level of the canal.

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