'Specials' for hydraulic engineering

For many years, Samson Appendages has been a renowned supplier of all kinds of "specials" in hydraulic engineering. These range from bulkhead bars, spindle and safety valves to high end plate valves and spring loaded check valves. On the Markermeer dikes, Samson Appendages supplies seven sealing bulkheads for calamities and maintenance of culverts through the reinforced dikes.

To regulate the water in the polder, new culverts are being constructed at seven positions in the Markermeer dikes. "In the event of calamities or maintenance to these culvert structures, it must be possible to close the culvert completely," explains Geert Timmer of Samson Appendages. "On behalf of the Alliance, we design and manufacture the aluminum sealing baffles for this purpose. The bulkheads vary in dimensions from 1.70 by 1 meter to specimens almost 4 meters wide and 2 meters high. They are constructed from hollow profile beams of 100 by 200 mm with a material thickness of 2.5 mm. The latter depends mainly on the water pressure. We can go up to a material thickness of 5 mm."

The profile beams are coupled into one unit and framed with a stainless steel frame to achieve the requested size. Timmer: "A hoisting device is provided at the top to allow the bulkheads to be inserted and removed. If desired, we can also provide the bulkheads with a passageway, but that was not an issue here. Our bulkheads have a wide range of applications. They are often placed along rivers at high water, such as this summer along the Meuse and in the IJsselmeer to secure the port area during storm surges and high water. In the latter case, even double bulkheads are placed. It is rightly a very modular and extensive system, where we can go very far in customization with fittings and connections to other materializations."