Water infrastructure in the United States is critical to the domestic economy, commerce, and resource management. There are thousands of existing hydraulic steel structures (HSS) that require regular maintenance and upkeep. Original methods to protect HSS are disfavored or no longer used due to environmental and safety concerns. Newer approaches to corrosion control suffer from higher costs, shorter service life, and reduced efficacy.
In order to address rising maintenance costs and to advance the state of the art for corrosion control, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), is sponsoring this two phase Rust Busters Challenge. This Challenge seeks to identify and develop new methods for corrosion control. The Challenge sponsors are vitally interested in completely new approaches that are outside of conventional thought processes for corrosion control that can be applied to existing structures in situ. There is also interest in advancing existing technologies that can significantly improve service life, reduce costs (through innovative application methods or use of new materials), or improve performance range (through additional features such as health monitoring or self-healing).
This Rust Busters Challenge offers the opportunity for the most compelling corrosion control approaches to be evaluated and field-tested by the Challenge sponsors. In Phase 1, participants will submit a paper containing the proposed approach to corrosion control, its scientific rationale, and any supporting data. Up to 5 of the most compelling submissions will be selected as Phase 1 winners. Only Phase 1 winners can participate in Phase 2, and each Phase 1 winner will receive up to $50,000 to help support Phase 2 efforts. During Phase 2, participants will demonstrate their technologies using test coupons supplied by Reclamation. Test coupons and/or prototypes will be evaluated by Reclamation, and up to 3 final winners will share the final prize of $100,000. This Challenge has a total prize purse of $350,000 ($250,000 in Phase 1 and $100,000 in Phase 2). It offers a rare opportunity for Phase 2 participants to receive lab- and field-test data for their technologies and additional possibilities to continue working with Reclamation to further develop their technologies.
Challenge structure overview:
Phase 1
Phase 2
What You Can Do To Cause A Breakthrough
Reclamation is the largest provider of water in the country and the second largest producer of hydroelectric power. The numerous HSS in their dams and power plants fall into two main types of structures gates and penstocks. Their local conditions are slightly different, and so the corrosion protection strategies differ too. Gates may have significant ultraviolet (UV) light exposure, which can reduce the service life of corrosion protection measures, and they are subject to impacts from objects (such as debris or ice) and abrasion from particulates in the water. Penstocks experience high water pressures and must also withstand abrasion.For the purposes of this competition, the primary interest for corrosion protection of penstocks is on interior surfaces, so UV exposure is not an issue. These structures are operated in freshwater.
Currently, corrosion control for HSS falls into 2 main categories: protective coatings and cathodic protection. Protective coatings are the first line of defense against the corrosion of steel structures. Coal tar enamel and solution vinyl coatings provide superior protection for hydraulic structures. But their use is limited due to health, safety, and environmental concerns. Cathodic protection systems can be used in conjunction with coatings. These systems prevent corrosion by making the steel structure a cathode in an electrochemical circuit. Cathodic protection works for gates only while they are in the water and may not provide adequate protection in the high-flow conditions of penstocks.
Much of the cost and complexity for maintenance of existing HSS is due to the application process itself. To improve safety and reduce risks to human operators, all HSS are “dewatered” during maintenance. For penstocks, this means the pipes are emptied of water. For gates, the water surrounding them is drained away. This dewatered state can be maintained for up to several weeks, which translates to impeded commerce through locks and dams and for power plants as much as $500,000/day in lost power generation revenue.Application/maintenance processes that can minimize down time, reduce or eliminate direct human operation, or otherwise lower cost and/or frequency (such as extended service life) are all of great interest.
To be competitive, new corrosion protection approaches should:
Additionally, ideal technologies will:
Phase 1 is open to everyone. Participants have until January 16, 2020 to submit their responses. Although potential solutions at any stage of technical maturity can be submitted, be aware that Phase 1 participants must be able to demonstrate and/or prototype their technologies within the 6 month Phase 2 development window. Well-reasoned scientific rationale and supporting preliminary data are important components for strong Phase 1 submissions. Whether you are proposing a novel pathway for corrosion control, or a new method of applying an existing protective material, your submission should persuade Reclamation not only of the fitness of your approach but also of the ability of you and your team to deliver appropriate materials for evaluation at the end of the Phase 2 development period.
The Evaluation Panel will review all Phase 1 submissions and select up to 5 of the most compelling entries as Phase 1 winners. Entries will be reviewed against the Evaluation Criteria listed below.Winners will be announced on March 03, 2020. These winners will each receive $50,000 award money to support their development and prototyping work.
Evaluation criteria for Phase 1 submissions
General criteria:
Corrosion performance, Durability, and Life cycle cost:
Feasibility:
Innovation:
Please see the evaluation rubric for Phase 1 here.
Only winners of Phase 1 can participate in Phase 2. Phase 2 participants will each receive $35,000 and test coupons at the start of the Phase 2 development period. There will be 4 types of test coupons:
Test coupons that are returned to Reclamation must have all surfaces treated, with special attention to corners and edges. It is understood that returned coupons should be treated in a manner that is demonstrative of the proposed approach. For example, if you are proposing a novel automated device to apply a known protective coating, then the submitted test coupons must be coated using said device.Similarly, if you are proposing a surface treatment that uses an innovative application method, then the surface modification of the submitted test coupons must occur as a result of this application method.
A mutually agreed upon milestone will be separately established with each group when the test coupons are initially provided. Mid-way through the Phase 2 development period, around the week of June 22, 2020, each team will check in with Reclamation to discuss progress towards this milestone. This check-in will consist of a video or web conference between each Phase 2 participating group and Reclamation. In addition to progress towards the milestone, Reclamation will be reviewing progress against the project plan proposed in the Phase 1 submission.During the check-in, each group and Reclamation will agree upon the additional Phase 2 deliverables required beyond the treated test coupons. Depending on the proposed approach, groups proposing new devices and/or application methods may be additionally required to provide a safety data sheet, product application guide, live demonstration or said device itself. After successfully completing the check-in, Phase 2 participants will then each receive an additional $15,000 to help complete their development work.
All test coupons and prototypes must be received by Reclamation by close of business on September 11, 2020. All received material will undergo testing and evaluation through December 3, 2021.On December 15, 2021 the winner(s) will be announced. The final prize purse of $100,000 in award money will be shared among the winners.Winners will have their work presented by Reclamation at a leading corrosion conference, such as NACE Corrosion or the SSPC’s Coatings+, and may have the opportunity to further develop and field test their approaches in partnership with an existing Reclamation or USACE project. Additionally, after the Phase 2 winners have been announced, all participants will receive testing and evaluation results for their respective submissions.
It is anticipated that Phase 1 winners will represent a wide range of technologies. This means that specific testing may vary from sample to sample during the Phase 2 evaluation process. However, all samples will undergo a core set of testing to ensure that the primary goals for corrosion protection are being met. These core tests address:
Additional testing and evaluation could address issues such as:
Evaluation of laboratory and field testing results for Phase 2 submissions will be performed by the same evaluation panel that reviewed Phase 1 submissions and will be augmented with feedback from laboratory and field personnel. Please see the evaluation rubric for Phase 2 here.
All Phase 2 participants who submit their test coupons and other Phase 2 deliverables by the Sept 2020 deadline are eligible to be considered for this award. This award is a recognition for the best overall laboratory testing performance. Although field testing extends for the entire length Phase 2 testing and evaluation period, the laboratory testing generally takes 6 months. In March 2021, after the testing and evaluation of results is complete, Reclamation will announce which team’s approach showed the highest laboratory performance. In addition to recognition of their technology’s achievement, the winning team’s results will be presented by Reclamation at a corrosion conference.
Laboratory performance is only one component of a given technology’s evaluation. Other issues that have been discussed previously, such as durability, cost, and feasibility, are also important and contribute strongly to Reclamation’s overall evaluation. Therefore, winning this award does not affect any other team’s ability to win the Rust Busters Challenge overall.
For this Challenge, Reclamation has assembled a panel of subject matter experts to serve as an evaluation panel to read, review, and evaluate all submissions for both Phase 1 and Phase 2. These panel members provide expertise in a wide range of relevant subjects, including but not limited to corrosion control, HSS, testing and analysis, and water infrastructure.
The panel will score and rank all submissions using the respective scorecard for the appropriate Phase. All decisions are final.
Participation Eligibility:
The Rust Busters Challenge is open to individuals, age 18 or older. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit participation (see: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx).
The following restrictions apply to the Challenge:(1) Federal employees acting within the scope of their employment are not eligible to participate; (2) Federal employees acting outside the scope of their employment should consult their ethics advisor before participating in the Challenge; (3) All employees of the Government, [contractor(s)], Challenge sponsors, and other individual or entity associated with the development or administration of the Challenge, as well as their family members (i.e., spouse, children, parents, siblings, other dependents) and persons living in the same household whether or not related, are not eligible to participate; (4) Contractors receiving Government funding for the same or similar projects, along with their employees, are not eligible to participate in the Challenge.
Submissions must be made in English. All challenge-related communication will be in English.
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the challenge as defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement, which will be made available upon registration.
Registration and Submissions:
Submissions must be made online (only), via upload to the HeroX.com website, on or before the submission deadline. All uploads must be in PDF format. No late submissions will be accepted.
Intellectual Property Rights:
Innovators who are awarded a prize for their submission must agree to grant the US Government an irrevocable, royalty free, perpetual, sublicensable, transferable, and worldwide license to use and permit others to use all or any part of the submission including, without limitation, the right to make, have made, sell, offer for sale, use, rent, lease, import, copy, prepare derivative works, publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute all or any part of such submission, modifications, or combinations thereof and to sublicense (directly or indirectly through multiple tiers) or transfer any and all such rights.
Additional Information
