The US Bureau of Reclamation has launched an international prize competition aimed at improving detection of subsurface cracks in embankment dams, a key dam safety challenge.
The “Crack the Case” dam safety challenge, announced on 12 March, offers up to $400,000 in total prizes for solutions capable of identifying hidden structural weaknesses that can lead to internal erosion and potential dam failure.
Subsurface cracks in earthen dams are often difficult to detect using existing monitoring and geophysical methods. These defects can be only millimetres wide and located deep within clayey or silty soils, where conventional techniques have limited resolution. Detection is further complicated by variable ground conditions, restricted site access, and interference from buried infrastructure.
“Detecting subsurface cracks before they become pathways for internal erosion is a persistent technical challenge in dam safety,” said Bureau of Reclamation Prize Competition Administrator Christine VanZomeren. “We’re looking beyond conventional approaches and inviting fresh perspectives from geophysicists, sensing specialists, and problem-solvers from any field to help us find what current tools cannot.”
The three-phase competition will award up to seven teams $30,000 each for initial concept proposals. Up to five teams will then receive $20,000 each to develop and validate prototypes. Final demonstration awards of $60,000 and $30,000 will be given for first and second place respectively.
The dam safety challenge is open to individuals and teams worldwide, subject to US federal participation restrictions. The programme is being administered in partnership with HeroX and the NASA Tournament Lab.
Reclamation manages 491 dams and more than 330 reservoirs across the western US, many of which are embankment structures where undetected internal defects present long-term operational risks.
Ready to find what others can’t see? Learn more and register here.
