Caption: 
To accelerate pumped storage hydropower development, SwRI has developed a modern version of a 19th-century steel structural dam to impound water in a reservoir. The circular dam above is composed of modular sections that can be rapidly assembled using redesigned steel support frames made of standard W-beams and S-beams (left). The frame and water-tight faceplate modules are put in place using mobile heavy-lift cranes.

Credit: 
Courtesy of Southwest Research Institute