KNAPP R.T.

KNAPP R.T. 05.01. 1899 Loveland CO/USA 07.11. 1957 Pasadena CA/USA Robert Talbot Knapp was educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, from where he obtained in 1920 the degree SB in mechanical engineering. He moved in 1922 as instructor to the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA, from where he obtained the PhD degree in 1929. He was then for one year a Freeman Scholar, allowing him to travel to Europe for further education. Upon return to Pasadena, he was in charge of its hydraulic laboratory until 1942, directing it until 1951. Knapp there was until 1936 associate professor of hydraulic engineering, then associate professor until 1950, from when serving as professor until his premature death. Knapp was in charge of special investigations of beach, harbour and channel problems for the Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corporation from 1932 to 1936, and a consulting engineer for the Water District of Southern California from 1933 to 1937. From 1935 to 1947 he acted as corporate agent for the Soil Conservation Service SCS within the US Department of Agriculture, and as consultant on pumping problems of Grand Coulee Dam. From 1942 to 1947 he was in charge of research in underwater projectiles for the US Navy, followed by harbour model studies until 1951. During these years he also took interest in the hydrodynamics of rotating channel flows, and in cavitation hydraulics. He authored research works in high-velocity open channel flows, collaborating with his PhD student Arthur T. Ippen (1907-1974), pipeline stream crossings, density currents, wave and surge studies, and particularly cavitation. He was the recipient of the 1956 Melville Prize Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASME. Anonymous (1954). Knapp, Robert T. Who’s who in engineering 7: 1333. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1955). R.T. Knapp. Mechanical Engineering 77(12): 1131. P Anonymous (1956). Robert T. Knapp. Mechanical Engineering 78(1): 116. P Anonymous (1958). Le professeur Knapp. La Houille Blanche 13(2): 188. P Knapp, R.T., Hollander, A. (1948). Laboratory investigations of the mechanism of cavitation. Trans. ASME 70(7): 419-435. Knapp, R.T. (1952). Cavitation mechanics and its relation to the design of hydraulic equipment. Proc. of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers London UK 166: 150-163. Knapp, R.T. (1955). Recent investigations of the mechanics of cavitation and cavitation damage. Trans. ASME 77(10): 1045-1054. Knapp, R.T., Daily, J.W., Hammitt, F.G. (1970). Cavitation. McGraw-Hill: New York.