Reclamation Summer Interns Share Work With Colleagues

Written by: Peter Soeth

Reclamation summer interns displaying and presenting their posters at the As the school season starts back up in full swing, college students worldwide will go back to their respected learning institutions to discuss their summer internships. However, Reclamation’s interns took their experiences to a whole new level by participating in the “Second Annual Reclamation Intern Poster Contest,” which showcased the work done by the 23 student interns at Reclamation.

Reclamation employees judged the students’ posters and then awarded the students with the best poster presentation and best printed poster. Student interns also took part in the voting process for the student choice award.

The winners of this year’s poster contest were:

Best Poster Presentation: Juan Vela (California State University, Northridge) for his poster on Whiskeytown Dam Intake Structure Bulkhead

Best Printed Poster: Zach Jordan (Purdue University) for Passivation of Zinc Anodes in Natural Freshwaters

Student Choice Award: Prospero Gonzalez (California State University, Fresno) for Arkansas Valley Conduit

Topics for the posters ranged from laboratory materials testing to security requirements and invasive mussels to all aspects of Reclamation project engineering work and more.

A description of each poster is listed below.

Abstracts

Riley Bair, Oklahoma State University - Freeze/ Thaw Testing
The Corps of Engineers is adding on to a section of Isabella Lake Dam and needed the Bureau’s facilities to help test different aggregates. Aggregate testing is a crucial part of concrete design. Due to an extremely wide variety of aggregate choices, it is usual to test several different kinds to find which one will work best for the application. Durability is a large factor in determining what to use and freeze/thaw testing as defined by ASTM C666 is one of the best methods to use. This poster will cover procedure and results.

Matthew Becker, Colorado School of Mines - Underwater Concrete Repair: Testing and Results
A major problem with concrete structures such as canals and dams is that over time they can crack and begin to leak. The project attempts to address this problem by applying polyurethane grouts underwater to seal the cracks. The project is split into four parts: making specimens, constructing the test frame, testing the specimens and interpreting the results. I will be presenting the testing and the results. This includes describing the test procedure as well as the effect that each test variable had on repairing the crack and sealing the leak. The results of the test will be used to provide real world recommendations and applications for using polyurethane grouts underwater.

Marianna Brown, Benedictine College - Security Requirements
In any Reclamation office, organization and accessibility of information is essential. Communication between area offices, SSLE, and the Department of the Interior can often times become lost in translation or confusing. My project consists of organizing minimum security requirements meant for area security officers to comply to and presenting them in a way that facilities can use. Proper presentation and organization of this information can make completion of these security requirements easier and quicker to complete which, in turn, reinforces public and government safety and security.

Maria De la Piedra Yanes, Rice University - El Vado Dam: Construction Flood Routing
The El Vado reservoir stores water for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) which is used for irrigation, recreation, and flood control. The dam currently has a service spillway that is in need of reconstruction. Various construction floods were routed and evaluated in order to determine if construction of a temporary coffer dam would be necessary to allow for the reconstruction of the spillway. The flood routing results show that the risks of the construction area becoming flooded are acceptable without the construction of a coffer dam.

Prospero Gonzalez, California State University, Fresno - Arkansas Valley Conduit
The Arkansas Valley Conduit Project will help provide high quality water to Southeastern Colorado communities. Currently these communities use groundwater wells to supply most of their drinking water needs. Recently it was found that the groundwater contains cancer-causing radioactive contaminants such as naturally occurring radium and uranium. Also, some of the ground water contains dissolved salts, which cause taste and odor issues in the water. The purpose of the project is to help water providers supply high quality water that meet EPA and state water quality requirements for these communities. In this poster I will provide more information about the project, as well as the work I have done to contribute to it.

Scott Haisma, Metropolitan State University of Denver - Quagga Mussels and Reclamation
In the waters of the U.S., there is an invasive species of mussels plaguing Reclamation facilities. They settle in pipes, and prevent natural water flow. Therefore, research is being performed on the most cost efficient and low maintenance solution to this issue. A solution thought up involves the use of turbulence and a hypothesis stating that the size of an eddy (a circular current of water) determines its ability to kill/damage/prevent quagga mussels. The results of the current test being performed at Davis Dam will determine the effectiveness of turbulence as a solution in preventing veliger (baby mussel) settlement; with success, the applications are endless.

Lora Hoopes, Colorado School of Mines - Soil Compaction
The purpose of this informational poster is to illustrate the compaction test for cohesive and granular soils. This is important to many engineering applications because soil compaction increases the bearing capacity of structures such as foundations, earth dams, and embankments by increasing the strength of the supporting soil mass. There are several methods of performing the laboratory compaction test that are analogous to field compaction procedures. The selected method is largely dependent on soil type.

Nick Jones, Georgia Institute of Technology - Pueblo Dam Crack Seal Material Testing
Pueblo is one of the many dams that is owned and operated by Reclamation. Recently, there have been leaks taking place at Pueblo. A hydrophilic material called CYLutions has been developed by Emagineered Solutions that is believed to be the best current waterstop system. Before Reclamation decides to implement this material at Pueblo Dam, it has to undergo a series of tests to get an idea of its behavior. My primary objective was to conduct a saturation test as well as set up an apparatus for a wet-dry test on CYLutions.

Zach Jordan, Purdue University - Passivation of Zinc Anodes in Natural Freshwaters
In corrosion-prone environments, sacrificial anode cathodic protection may be used to mitigate corrosion of steel structures. Due to its active nature, zinc can be used as an anode to steel. However, in some environments, zinc can passivate, or form a protective oxide layer around itself, and lose its ability to protect the structure. Due to the complex chemical makeup of some fresh waters, predicting passivation can be difficult. This project will develop potentiodynamic polarization tests to determine if or when zinc anodes will passivate in varying fresh water mediums. This will result in a predictive method for using zinc anodes in sacrificial anode cathodic protection systems.

Katie Kerstiens, Colorado School of Mines - Invasive Mussels
Zebra and quagga mussels are invasive species in the US. They damage operation of water storage, water delivery, and hydropower structures as well as causing harm to other aquatic ecosystems. The lab I work in (Reclamation Detection Laboratory for Exotic Species) concentrates on early detection of these mussels, this mainly encompasses microscopy. As well as early detection, the lab follows mussel count and water health in known positive bodies of water to try and better understand these mussels. My poster will be an overview of the steps taken for early detection.

Keturah Kiper, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville - Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy: Field Test Accuracy & Precision
Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) testing is used in many laboratories to evaluate the performance of durable coatings on steel substrates. EIS shows how permeable a coating is to water and ions at the time of measurement. EIS provides useful information for researchers to evaluate the performance of a coating; however, researchers hope to use EIS to predict the service life of different industrial protective coatings. However, researchers have yet to be successful in using EIS as a consistently accurate predictive test. Reclamation is currently improving its action plan as a result of recent advances in the EIS technology and a growing need to prepare, to maintenance and to improve the water infrastructures.

Scott D. Monesmith, University of Colorado, Denver - Security As-Built Drawings
Field offices need to have workable as-built drawings because technical drawings can be difficult for laymen to read. Because some of the facilities security components were migrated from one security system to another, they need updating so the operators can better identify the component(s) affected when a problem arises. This project will update the as-built drawings to make them easier to use in the field by using AutoCAD. This update will result in better communication between field offices and the Denver office by allowing diagnosis from the field to be more accurate and timelier.

Kerry Muenchow, Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Corrosion and Electric Fish Barriers
Electric fish barriers are used to control fish movement, protecting endangered species from adverse effects due to dams, hydropower plants, pumping plants, canals, etc. While these barriers are effective in controlling fish movement, there is potential for these barriers to cause interference with nearby electronics or structures and can lead to heightened levels of corrosion on these structures. This project explores this potential interference issue from the electric fish barriers in addition to considering whether cathodic protection systems used to mitigate corrosion may cause interference with the electric fish barriers. It is recommended that further research is performed on how cathodic protection systems may be used to minimize any heightened corrosion on nearby structures without interfering with the electric system of the barriers.

Jachin Myers, Fort Valley State University - Cathodic Protection
When metal structures are placed in the environment, they often begin to corrode. Corrosion is a natural process in which refined metal is converted into their more stable oxide. It is the gradual destruction of materials by chemical reaction with their environment. Cathodic Protection (CP) is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electro chemical cell. In order for corrosion to occur on a structure that is submerged, four things must be present: an anode (corroding metal), a cathode (non-corroding metal), an electrolyte (water with dissolved salts or soil), a metallic return path between the two metals (the steel pipe). There are two types of systems for CP: Impressed Current and Sacrificial Anode. Both systems achieve the same goal of converting anodic (active) sites to cathodic (passive) sites by supplying electrical current, or free electrons, from an alternate source. This project will highlight the differences between both methods of CP and focus on test stations along the Mini Wiconi Pipeline as a case study.

Samantha Prince, Doane College - Mixture Proportioning of Concrete
This poster will look into the difference between concrete cylinders verse concrete cores and what engineers are looking for from the different tests. In addition, it will describe how concrete mix designs are created and what is important to add into the mixture. Using available materials, mix designs are developed to create specimens for testing and build structures. Either concrete specimens made in the lab or obtain from the field will help engineers gain data.

Jeremy Schuster, Colorado State University - Future Performance Monitoring
Every six or seven years, high risk dams require measurements from instruments to monitor seepage, tilt, liquid pressure, and other variables. Some of the instruments used are hydraulic piezometers, inclinometers, and hydrostatic pressure indicators. The project is to compare data from comprehensive facility review (CFR) hard copies with the data on the program “DAMS Client”. The analysis includes confirming that the data is correct on the program and creating scatter plots as representation. The data primarily revolves around the performance parameters that included minimum and maximum expected performance expectations for future monitoring of dams. The project confirms the minimums and maximums to insure that future data is acceptable.

Logan Thompson, University of Wyoming - Embankment Breach Research
The Bureau of Reclamation manages many embankment dams across the western United States, some which date back to the early 1900’s. One of the issues that the Bureau deals with these structures is the erosion from either an imperfection in the structure of the dam or from the constant pressure of the water over time. In order to know how to handle this issue- both in terms of risk assessment and engineering fixes, one must first understand how a certain material will erode under given conditions once a concentrated leak has initiated. We plan on breaching such a homogenous embankment dam, in- house, to therefore observe the geometry and progression of the erosion on the material. This work will then be applied to then formulate a reference point to apply to similar dams in the field.

Mark Travers, Red Rocks Community College - Photogrammetry for Sheer Plane Measurements
Shear tests are indispensable in the study of rock, soil, and concrete. Unfortunately, due to limitations in measurement methods, the shear test lacks several significantly helpful pieces of data. The goal of this project is to utilize photogrammetry to create a computer model of both sides of a shear specimen. This model will be processed in order to perform several previously impossible measurements on the shear surfaces. One of these measurements will include the area of contact between the broken samples. Also, by extracting one or more cross-sections from the model, it will be possible to calculate a Joint Roughness Coefficient (JRC) of the shear plane. This process will aid materials engineers tremendously and provide otherwise inaccessible data.

Juan Vela, California State University, Northridge - Whiskeytown Dam-Intake Structure- Bulkhead
Whiskeytown Dam, constructed in 1964, is located in Shasta County, California and is part of the Central Valley project. The current project for the dam is to provide two fully functioning bulkhead gates. This poster will present the design work that was done to create the modifications for the existing bulkhead assembly. The design work includes designs, drawings, as well as calculations. To create a fully operational bulkhead we recommended adding an air vent, safety plate, ball valve, hole cover plate, and new seals to the assembly.

Ariel Voit, University of Colorado, Denver - Fly Ash and its Applications
The ingredients of a concrete mixture are vital to the success of any concrete structure. Fly ash was once considered waste from coal burning; however, it began its journey in the concrete industry as a cost effective alternative cementitious ingredient. Currently, the price has increased due to demand and restriction on coal burning, but is now considered a staple of concrete mixture to some. The benefits of these fine particles have helped several structures maintain a longer lifespan. Fly ash alters the concrete world because of its price and benefits.

James Waller, Colorado State University - Underwater Concrete Repair
The Central Arizona Project is a 336 mile canal that diverts water from the Colorado River. There are cracks in the concrete along the canal that need to be sealed to prevent abundant losses of water. My poster presentation is to find a way to inject polyurethane grout into the crack underwater without using divers or draining the canal. The project consists of: sample preparation, test frame construction, testing the samples, and analyzing the results. I will be presenting on the sample preparation and test frame construction; Matthew Becker will be presenting on specimen testing, analysis, and results. If successful, the cracks will be sealed and loss of water will be negligible.

Kelsi Whitesell, University of Colorado - Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System Feasibility Study
Assisting with the redo of quantities to reduce the cost using ArcGIS, Google Earth, etc. Look at the data and find the existing hydrants (if possible) in Google Earth. How much of the land pipe is crossing is registered to be Pueblo or private land and separate the costs accordingly. Pull quantities of how much 6”, 8” etc pipe there is and sort it by pueblo or private ownership. Look at transmission and distribution lines to find percentage of open cross country vs congested areas (crossing road, following the utilities, etc) that the pipe is crossing.

Published on August 28, 2015