Abstract: Control valve is a special core equipment of hydraulic driven ship lift(HDSL).Thorough understanding of its internal and nearby hydraulic properties has significant meanings to the operation efficiency and safety of hydraulic driven ship lift(HDSL).Aiming at the control valve of the world′s first HDSL-piston type regulating valve, through the physical model test, the hydraulic characteristics under different conditions of opening, back pressure and pressure difference were tested, and the flow characteristics of the valve, cavitation characteristics and pressure characteristics of pipe wall behind the valve were analyzed.The research results showed that the flow control of the piston type regulating valve was accurate, the cavitation could be restricted to the valve mouth and outside, and the protection of valve itself was better.However, the flow capacity of the valve at a small opening was low, the flow field structure was unstable, and the pressure of pipe wall was obviously affected by the flow field, which was not conducive to the pipeline safety.