Yes.
What was it like studying hydraulics in the early
A:
What was it like? What I remember the most now is that hydraulics wasn't very advanced
at that time. There weren't very many large dams being designed anywhere. The Corps
of Engineers and TVA just started designing and constructing dams. The Bureau of
Reclamation started designing dams about 1910, and they started constructing dams a few
years later, but the hydraulics part wasn't as far advanced. They only made brief
hydraulic model tests of dams at that time.
When I was in the Chief's office in the 1950's and
as I recall, there was a lot more
knowledge in the field of hydraulics than they had in the university in
University
textbooks mostly covered theoretical fluid mechanics and very little on hydraulic design
of spillways, outlet works, etc., for dams.
As I mentioned before, when I was in my last year at the University of California, I was
already interested in dams, and I asked Professor Etchevary, who taught a couple of
courses in irrigation, whether I couldn't go to the library and study whatever material was
available on dams. So I did that.
Were there very many books on those subjects?
A:
Not on dams, no. Not any that covered the hydraulics or design of spillways and outlet
works. As I said, the textbooks covered mostly fluid mechanics for the basic equations
used to calculate flow of water in a channel or a river, over spillways, and through outlet
works, but didn't cover the design of these structures nor problems such as cavitation
erosion by high-velocity flow. I didn't know anything about cavitation erosion until I went
to work for the Corps of Engineers.
I haven't gone back to the university to see what their courses are like now, but I think
there still is a need for a very thorough book on design of hydraulic structures, like dams,
high-velocity channels, and so on. Over the years, I've thought of writing such a book.
When I got all of my engineering reports, etc., together, I realized it would be excellent
reference material for writing the book. If I really went to work, I could write a good
hydraulics book, or maybe two or three of them. But it's just too big a job. I can't do it
at my age. If I were sixty years old and had ten years to do it, I think I could produce
some good hydraulic design books for the universities.
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