Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

This project undertook a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to determine the feasibility and cost and to demonstrate the efficacy of additively manufactured replacements for selected hydropower facility components. Reclamation’s Technical Service Center partnered with several regional and area offices to identify opportunities where additive manufacturing could be deployed. Three parts were selected and pursued as case studies: governor parts for Glen Canyon Dam, log boom anchors for Nimbus Dam, and generator exciter bearing slinger rings for Grand Coulee Dam. For each case study, researchers selected one or more additive manufacturing processes that seemed most feasible to replicate or improve upon the conventional part. Researchers worked with manufacturers to produce the additively manufactured components. To evaluate efficacy, the parts underwent material properties testing (density, tensile, bend, hardness, fatigue), metallography and fractography, three-dimensional scanning, and cost-benefit analysis.