Hydraulic engineering in the 21st century: Where to?

For centuries, hydraulic engineers were at the forefront of science. The last forty years marked a change of perception in our society with a focus on environmental sustainability and management, particularly in developed countries. Herein, the writer illustrates his strong belief that the future of hydraulic engineering lies upon a combination of innovative engineering, research excellence and higher education of quality. This drive continues a long tradition established by eminent scholars like Arthur Thomas IPPEN, John Fisher KENNEDY and Hunter ROUSE

Masonry dams : analysis of the historical profiles of Sazilly, Delocre and Rankine

The significant advances in masonry dam design that took place in the second half of the 19th century are analyzed and discussed within the context of the historical development of dam construction. Particular reference is made to the gravity dam profiles proposed by Sazilly, Delocre and Rankine, who pioneered the application of engineering concepts to dam design, basing the dam profile on the allowable stresses for the conditions of empty and full reservoir. These historical profiles are analyzed taking into consideration the present safety assessment procedures, by means of a numerical application developed for this purpose, based on limit analysis equilibrium methods, which considers the sliding failure mechanisms, the most critical for these structures. The study underlines the key role of uplift pressures, which was only addressed by Lévy after the accident of Bouzey dam, and provides a critical understanding of the original design concepts, which is essential for the rehabilitation of these historical structures.This work has been funded by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the PhD grant SFRH/BD/43585/2008, for which the first author is grateful