Halfway between a steel Ferris wheel and a kind of water park lazy river, stands the impressive Falkirk Wheel, a unique structure that acts as a revolving boat lift. It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal in Scotland. Its name comes from its proximity to the town of Falkirk.
At 35m high, the structure has two large circular gears at each of its two ends which support two lock boxes or sluices. With a width of 6.5 m, these locks or caissons hold up to 300 m3 of water. When the arms of the structure are raised, the gears that hold the caissons inside them rotate synchronously, which allows the horizontality of the caissons and the water level in them to be maintained. Thanks to this ingenious mechanism, the 24 m difference in level between the two canals is overcome.
More than 1,200 tonnes of steel were used in its construction, and today it is the only infrastructure of its kind in the world. The Falkirk wheel has become a national symbol, so much so that its image appears on banknotes issued by the Bank of Scotland.
By Alberto Lopez, Senior Structural Engineer in Amusement Logic’s Architecture Dept.
