Location: Agroclimate and Hydraulics Research Unit
Project Number: 3070-13000-014-021-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2026
End Date: May 31, 2027
Objective:
This Agreement provides Phase 1 funding to the cooperator as required to support the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) project plan titled: “Development of a Monitoring Network, Engineering Tools, and Guidelines for the Design, Analysis, and Rehabilitation of Embankment Dams, Hydraulic Structures, and Channels”. The Cooperator will assist ARS with the following objectives:
Develop new and/or enhance design guidance, engineering tools, software, and best management practice standards to monitor and assess the performance of dams and hydraulic structures as erosion control measures.
Specifically, the cooperator will investigate the feasibility of using 3D concrete printing for small dam construction and repair including but not limited to the development of concrete mixtures and applications and mitigating environmental impacts in order for it to be widely implemented on dam repair and construction projects. Phase I of this project will include validating the performance of the concrete mixtures. Phase 2 of this project is constructing dam elements with 3D printing that are open to the atmosphere and testing their performance. Phase 3 is constructing dam elements with 3D printing surrounded by water and testing their performance. Additional details to the objective of this research are included in the statement of work document.
Approach:
The Cooperator will partner with ARS to assist with the defined objectives. Specifically, the Cooperator will provide technical expertise in concrete and 3D printing technologies. For Phase 1, the Cooperator will compare cores extracted from 3D printed and conventionally caste structures through a wide range of durability tests including but not limited abrasion testing, permeability, freeze thaw, shrinkage, and cracking potential. For Phase 2, two separate concrete rockets will be developed and designed to fabricate different parts of a labyrinth weir. Once the technology is developed and tested, additional testing will be extended to examine the performance of water seepage at the joints and general performance of the labyrinth weirs. Testing may include pressure transducers for depth and flow metering for velocity head and flow rate measurement to evaluate hydrostatic pressures and resistance and deduce discharge coefficients. For Phase 3, a pilot underwater printing project as a proof of concept will be conducted. To prove the concept, vertical columns in tanks of water will be 3D printed. The tanks will be instrumented with pH and turbidity sensors to monitor the formation and dissipation of water quality plumes during and after printing. This monitoring will allow potential environmental impacts to be quantified and allow assessment of water quality stabilization after printing. For this phase, different water types (e.g., municipal., lake, sale) will be evaluated to determine the effects on printability, setting behavior, and long-term performance of the 3D-printed concrete. Cores extracted in Phase 1 will serve as the project's control group.