SHERARD

SHERARD 20.09. 1925 San Francisco CA/USA 31.07. 1987 La Jolla CA/USA James Lewis Sherard graduated in 1946 with the BSc degree from the University of California, Berkeley CA, and from Harvard University, Cambridge MA, in 1948 with the MSc degree in soil and foundation engineering. His doctoral thesis was completed in 1952 under Karl Terzaghi (1883-1963), involving a data analysis on dam failures with the US Bureau of Reclamation; it became a reference on dam failures due to cracking, and from then led to an improved performance. Over the next 35 years, Sherard was resident engineer in Brazil, partner and principal with Woodward-Clyde-Sherard & Associates, and the balance of his career in his own consulting practice Sherard Overseas Consultants, Los Angeles. Until his health failed, he worked on 220 dam and reservoir projects all through the world, as consultant to private firms and government agencies. His work led him to countries as Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the Philippines, Greece, Spain, Israel or Iran. He also involved himself with innovative research with the Soil Conservation Service SCS on dam failures by piping, and research on filter criteria. Sherard published over 40 journal papers of which more than half in ASCE journals. He also co-authored the 725-page technical book Earth and earth-rock dams. The 1992 book is dedicated to the memory of Sherard, who made numerous contributions to the embankment dam engineering. Twenty-one of his papers were selected for the memorial volume, of which a large portion was considered seminal and of outstanding value to the profession. These are preceded by an introduction prepared by either a co-author or someone closely associated with the work. Papers of lasting value as references on subjects such as seismic aspects, dispersive clays, hydraulic fracturing and filters are included. His last two papers on the concrete face rockfill dam are also in this volume. Anonymous (1961). James L. Sherard. Civil Engineering 31(7): 68. P Anonymous (1987). James L. Sherard. Trans. ASCE 152: 403-404. Sherard, J.L., Woodward, R.J., Gizienski, S.F. (1963). Earth and earth rock dams: Engineering problems of design and construction. Wiley: New York. Sherard, J.L., Dunnigan, L.P., Talbot, J.R. (1984). Filters for silts and clays. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 110(6): 701-718. Sherard, J.L. (1986). Hydraulic fracturing in embankment dams. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 112(10): 905-927. Singh, S., ed. (1992). Embankment dams: James L. Sherard contributions. ASCE: New York.