Recently, with the successful sinking operation of section 4 pipe joint in Yuliangzhou section of Hubei Xiangyang East-west Axis project, the first domestic floating gravel bed leveling equipment developed by ZPMC has shown its mature construction capability.

Xiangyang East-west Axis project is the first immersed pipe tunnel project in central China. In the past, self-elevating rubble leveling barge was used for immersed pipe construction to level the gravel subgrade bed. Due to the constraints of river water depth, navigation height and other conditions, the relatively mature self-elevating rubble leveling barge is not applicable to this project. Therefore, the new floating leveling equipment was developed for this application.

The floating gravel bed leveling equipment includes belt conveyor, traveling trolley, traverse trolley, rotating mechanism, holding support, riprap pipe, riprap pipe lifting device, hydraulic station, etc. It is the first set of automatic leveling equipment applied to the leveling of inland river gravel subgrade bed in China. Considering the features of inland river basin, the equipment is increased with transverse movement and rotation of riprap pipe, which can enable the riprap pipe protruding from the ship's side during operation shrink to the range of ship deck during towing. This function effectively eliminates the width limitation of sluice in some inland river basins. In addition, this equipment adopts visual operation interface, which can automatically adjust and display the height of scraper at the bottom of riprap pipe, monitor the height range of stone in riprap pipe, and effectively realize the intellectualization and digitization of construction.

The successful development of new floating leveling equipment has enriched the marine product category of ZPMC, and promoted the application of leveling equipment from coastal and inshore areas to inland river areas. In addition, the equipment requires less hull parameters and the cost is relatively low. It increases the competitiveness in the field of inland river immersed pipe construction equipment.