ABSTRACT
POWELL R.W. 04.10. 1889 Ionia County MI/USA 30.01. 1976 Berkeley CA/USA Ralph Waterbury Powell graduated from Michigan State College, East Lansing MI, with the BS degree in 1911, from Cornell University, Ithaca NY, with the CE degree in 1914, and the PhB degree from Yale University, New Haven NJ in 1916. He was an instructor in civil engineering from 1912 to 1914 at Cornell University, assistant in testing materials at Yale University until 1916, Head of the Department of Physics, College of Yale in China, Changsha until 1922, there appointed associate professor of applied mathematics until 1927, when taking over until 1934 as assistant professor of mechanics at the Ohio State University, Columbus OH, and as professor of mechanics until 1957. Powell was in 1955 visiting professor at State University of Iowa, Iowa City IA, and at University of Kansas, Lawrence KA, in 1957. He was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE, and of the International Association of Hydraulic Research IAHR. Powell was known for papers and books. His 1940 text deals with hydraulics in general for undergraduate students. The 1951 book is an update version, with the main chapters Hydrostatics, Fundamentals of fluid flow, Orifices, Tubes, Nozzles, Pipe flow, Flow in open channels, Effect of viscosity, Models, Properties of liquids, Dimensional analysis, and Rational basis of Nikuradse’s formulas. He also co-authored the 1963 state-of-theart paper. Powell collaborated for years with Chesley J. Posey (1906-1991) and was also involved as secretary of the Rocky Mountain Hydraulic Laboratory, Fort Collins CO. Anonymous (1955). Ralph W. Powell. 6th IAHR Congress Den Haag: Frontispiece. P Anonymous (1964). Powell, Ralph W. Who’s who in engineering 9: 1487. Lewis: New York. Anonymous (1976). Ralph W. Powell. Eos 57(10): 729. Carter, R.W., Einstein, H.A., Hinds, J., Powell, R.W., Silberman, E. (1963). Friction factors in open channels. Journal of the Hydraulics Division ASCE 89(HY2): 97-143; 89(HY4): 283-293; 89(HY5): 169-170; 89(HY6): 265-276; 90(HY4): 223-227. Powell, R.W. (1934). Dimensional analysis in model studies. Civil Engineering 4(11): 568-571. Powell, R.W. (1940). Mechanics of liquids. MacMillan: New York. Powell, R.W. (1946). Flow in a channel of definite roughness. Trans. ASCE 111: 531-566. Powell, R.W. (1951). Elementary text in hydraulics and fluid mechanics. MacMillan: New York. Powell, R.W., Posey, C.J. (1959). Resistance experiments in a triangular channel. Journal of the Hydraulics Division ASCE 85(HY5): 31-66. Powell, R.W. (1968). Origin of Manning’s formula. J. Hydr. Div. ASCE 94(HY4): 1179-1181.
