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Flowing Through Time: A History of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research
A literary perusal of the history and impact of one of the world's premier hydraulic teaching and research institutions, and an examination of our approach to water as a resource.
Cornelia F. Mutel is staff historian for the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research and the author or editor of several books on environmental themes, including Fragile Giants and Grassland to Glacier.
299 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1998
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January 10, 2013
This is an excellent and readable history of IIHR, the hydraulics lab that sits in the University of Iowa's campus and has done exciting and groundbreaking research since it was founded in the 1920s. I worked here as a student and just started again as a research assistant, and it is so cool to have this perspective.
"If it weren't for turbulence and its chaotic cousins, vortices, IIHR would be out of business. Without turbulence, our existing computer technologies would be adequate to solve fully the equations of fluid flow and we'd have relatively simple solutions to most of our questions.
Such simplicity is not to be found. Most flows in nature are turbulent, and vortices are ubiquitous. The sheaths of air and water that surround the earth are constantly swirling, with eddies ranging in scale from a few millimeters to the size of a continent. The ocean, viewed from a satellite, is composed of a churning mass of gigantic vortices. Rivers contain minuscule vortices as well as vortices that may occupy entire backwater regions behind structures such as wingdams. Vortices spin off the wingtips of bumblebees and birds, enabling highly efficient flight. More dramatic atmospheric vortices form devastating cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Dust devils twist upwards from bared soil in school playgrounds. Currents caused by the clash of incoming and outgoing tides breed tidal whirlpools. Warm-air vortices generated by the natural convective rising of heated air are utilized by soaring birds, who choose their position so they will be lifted upward. Looking out on dark nights, we might see the spiral of the Whirlpool Galaxy, or imagine the rotating swirl of infalling material into black holes. Students of vortex dynamics will never lack subject matter. Nor will they lack motivation, for vortices and turbulence are equally as numerous in and around human constructs such as bridge piers, where they confound all levels and types of questions they hydraulic engineers are trying to answer. Indeed, vortices are key components of innumerable flow phenomena, and they pose some of the most challenging problems in fluid physics."
"If it weren't for turbulence and its chaotic cousins, vortices, IIHR would be out of business. Without turbulence, our existing computer technologies would be adequate to solve fully the equations of fluid flow and we'd have relatively simple solutions to most of our questions.
Such simplicity is not to be found. Most flows in nature are turbulent, and vortices are ubiquitous. The sheaths of air and water that surround the earth are constantly swirling, with eddies ranging in scale from a few millimeters to the size of a continent. The ocean, viewed from a satellite, is composed of a churning mass of gigantic vortices. Rivers contain minuscule vortices as well as vortices that may occupy entire backwater regions behind structures such as wingdams. Vortices spin off the wingtips of bumblebees and birds, enabling highly efficient flight. More dramatic atmospheric vortices form devastating cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Dust devils twist upwards from bared soil in school playgrounds. Currents caused by the clash of incoming and outgoing tides breed tidal whirlpools. Warm-air vortices generated by the natural convective rising of heated air are utilized by soaring birds, who choose their position so they will be lifted upward. Looking out on dark nights, we might see the spiral of the Whirlpool Galaxy, or imagine the rotating swirl of infalling material into black holes. Students of vortex dynamics will never lack subject matter. Nor will they lack motivation, for vortices and turbulence are equally as numerous in and around human constructs such as bridge piers, where they confound all levels and types of questions they hydraulic engineers are trying to answer. Indeed, vortices are key components of innumerable flow phenomena, and they pose some of the most challenging problems in fluid physics."
Displaying 1 of 1 review