Bringing the 120-year-old Historic Sault Ste. Marie Canal Powerhouse into the future

摘要

The Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site (NHS) is operated by Parks Canada Agency. Built between 1889 and 1895, it commemorates an outstanding example of Canadian engineering achievement. In the past, operating the lock was carried out using onsite hydroelectric generation fed from the Saint Mary’s River above the canal. Water flowed through a large steel penstock and into a powerhouse with twin turbines which discharge through two submerged steel pipes downstream of the lock.Parks Canada’s goal is to renew the Sault Ste. Marie Canal NHS to increase visitation through varied visitor experiences that will attract a diverse audience. The powerhouse and related infrastructure, being a key attraction on site, are intended to be transformed into a working museum for current and future generations to enjoy. This process began with a multi-disciplinary assessment of the built structures and process equipment. This paper focuses on the condition assessment of the 300m long, 2,000mm diameter steel penstock pipe, two 45m long steel discharge pipes, 1525mm in diameter, and 30m long dewatering pump discharge pipe, 750mm in diameter.The condition assessment of the pipes involved a variety of inspection and testing methods and included person-entry and robotic inspections with Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV’s) and multisensoring with Closed-circuit Television (CCTV), taking of coupons for metallurgical tests, ultrasonic wall thicknesses, sounding testing, ovality measurements, some in both drained and submerged conditions. Numerous challenges and constraints were considered during planning of the investigations. The challenges, approach, condition assessment technologies, and findings will be described in this paper.