ABSTRACT
TOCH 23.01. 1922 Wien/A 19.07. 1962 Iowa City IA/USA Arthur Toch graduated in 1948 from the University of Kansas, Lawrence KA, spent then two years with the US Bureau of Reclamation USBR, then moving to State University of Iowa, Iowa City IA, graduating there with the MS degree in hydraulic engineering in 1952. He became a research associate there on the staff of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research IIHR, and in parallel was instructor at the Department of Mechanics and Hydraulics. Nothing is so far known on the further career of Toch. During Toch’s stay at University of Iowa, he dealt with a number of hydraulic problems. He collaborated with Emmett M. Laursen (19192013) as one of the first in the USA on bridge pier and abutment scour, a problem that had been investigated in Europe from the late 19th century but only in the 1950s was dealt with in America. A number of important bridges were damaged by scour, yet few means were then available to protect these important infrastructural elements. The complications of this two-phase flow problem involving both water flow and sediment, which is subjected by vortices mainly at the pier or abutment front, were investigated using simple models. Some preliminary results were established pointing at the large effect of the approach flow velocity, and proposals were made to reduce the scour action. The second basic study of Toch relates to so-called Tainter gates, a radial gate inserted in a rectangular channel. The discharge coefficient was determined in terms of relative gate radius, submerged outflow was considered, and limit conditions between free and submerged outflow were investigated. Anonymous (1952). A. Toch. Proc. 5th Hydraulics Conference Iowa. Frontispiece P Anonymous (1956). Arthur Toch. Proc. 6th Hydraulics Conference Iowa: Frontispiece. P Laursen, E.M., Toch, A. (1953). A generalized model study of scour around bridge piers and abutments. 5th IAHR Congress Minneapolis: 123-131. P Laursen, E.M., Toch, A. (1956). Scour around bridge piers and abutments. Bulletin 4. Iowa Road Research Board: Ames IA. Toch, A. (1952). The effect of a lip angle upon flow under a Tainter gate. MS Thesis. State University of Iowa: Iowa City. Toch, A., Moorman, R.W. (1953). Manifold efflux. Studies in Engineering Bulletin 35. State University of Iowa: Iowa City. Toch, A. (1955). Discharge characteristics of Tainter gates. Trans. ASCE 120: 290-300. Toch, A., Schneider, G.R., eds. (1958). Proc. 7th Hydraulics Conference Iowa City.
