The Thames Barrier

[@nicoleharris7869]

Thank you! Best video/presentation I’ve seen of the barrier. An amazing feat of engineering! 🚢🌊

[@JohnShields-xx1yk]

Being a Boston guy, England isn't exactly my buddy but WW2 was a great alliance, the Thames has always fascinated me, idk why, it's got tides ? But it's a river, I've since looked up why and how it works, it's the first thing I imagine when I think of England.🇺🇸🇬🇧

[@michaelguerin56]

Thank you Graham et al. This is the best presentation I have come across, in regard to the Thames Barrier. Informative and entertaining.

[@theworshipfulcompanyofengi1714]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ChiroVideosTVlondon]

Great, informative video, thank you

[@e.k.2168]

Is the position of the barrier marked in red on the flood map of London actually correct? It looks as if it's too far to the east - isn't the Thames Barrier itself at Woolwich, further west than indicated in red on your map? I would say it should be just to the east of the big loop (meander) of the River Thames; where the Isle of Dogs and the Millennium Dome are situated - almost directly at the central point of the map. I look forward to your response, Thank you.

[@PlayitonPan]

You are correct. The position marked in red straddles the Thames between the River Darent and Mardyke. This is between Dartford’s Erith marshes in the south and Purfleet’s Rainham marshes in the north. It’s actually one of preferred sites for a future flood defence system post 2070.

[@russiancooliegal2074]

It's a set up lol

[@idokwatcher2062]

So Rotterdam has a movable barrier that lets the whole river be used by boats, but the British limited to 200 feet, 60 meter wide boats?

[@hypergolic8468]

I think there's a number of reasons that could explain your question: 1) The Thames Barrier design starts in the late 1960's, when, as could be seen in the video, the knowledge of steel structures was under investigation, and as yet the rule book with lessons coming from North Sea oil Jackets was undergoing a steel evolution / revolution. Rotterdam's magnificent barrier starts design life in an age of far greater knowledge as to what was possible. And as for computational power and modelling between the two projects there no comparison. 2) As explained, the reach of the Thames, from the barrier to sea is very long, at Rotterdam the barrier to sea is not that far. To avoid the hammer effect talked about, the barrier was designed to allow undershoot with the water, where as the Rotterdam barrier, as I understand it, is designed to allow this but with a different reach to the sea and a far better protected downstream (Delta works standards). 3) As with anything there's a sweet spot as to the docks and wharfs upstream, and the tonnage that could be expected to make it upstream. Already traffic was falling away form the docks as larger ships were not coming up that far, so any wider or greater draft would not generate the return on investment. 4) This is conjecture on my part, but the barrier was built in the Cold War, many of the people designing it remembered 1939-45 as living memory, not that long ago, so designing a structure with some reliance was possibly in mind. A distance from the Barrier was the Littlebrook "D" power station. When designed (1970's) and commissioned in the early 1980's it was "hardened" with duplicate systems, concrete blast walls etc to help it's operation in a wartime environment. The barrier would be a great anti submarine defence if nothing else. 5) Resilience, sort of point 4, but Rotterdam's flood defences were significantly upgraded post 1953 with the Delta Works going into the docks, havens etc , that really did not exist in London, and a failure of a large gate system would leave the deep level tube, post office telecoms network in danger. Rotterdam is far better protected. Even if the Thames barrier failed on one gate, it could still slow the water up just enough to buy the time for the tide to turn,

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

60 Meters is all that is needed