Dam and Reservoir Civil Engineer Career Day Display

Описание: I love career day because it gives me a chance to show kids how fun my job can be. This year I went all out and built a large display with running water, moving parts, and lot's of color. Bring on the bad puns!

Civil engineering is not a notoriously glamorous career, so it's a fun challenge to make it interesting to young people. I have always loved children's science museums, and I'm always amazed at how creative and captivating the exhibits are. My goal with this project was to create something similar: a display which makes a complex topic approachable, fun, interesting, and easily understood. I think I got it right with this one. It was a big hit at career day. I had lot's of interest and engagement, a lot of good questions, hopefully sparked some interest in engineering, and maybe even inspired a budding dam engineer.

Thanks for watching and let me know what you think.


Here's how the display works:
Water is pumped from a tray behind the display to above the lake to simulate rain filling the reservoir. A flood can be simulated just by pouring in a pitcher of water. A small crest gate acts as a flood control structure. There are houses along the bank of the river downstream to show how flooding can affect structures near rivers, and it's easy to see that a house built at a higher elevation has a lower chance of flooding. Hydro-power is simulated with the computer fan, and water supply is represented by a garden hose and bathroom sink. Low-flow releases can be made from the dam to keep water in the river downstream. There are some fish to show why environmental flows are important.

Credit to Boss Display Corporation for the idea.