Working With Water
The University of Iowa recently announced the beginning of a project to lay pipes beneath the Iowa River to improve cooling on the east side of campus. The work will involve creating temporary dams on the river that will allow the riverbed to be dug up. The project is in its preliminary stages and can be monitored with a webcam view of the construction area.
While the Iowa River project will be conducted using the latest in engineering technology, it will follow principles of river construction that have existed for centuries–which provides an opportunity for Special Collections to highlight an important resource: the History of Hydraulics Collection. Assembled by the former director of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, Hunter Rouse, the collection contains many important works on fluid motion and engineering applications.
The current work on the Iowa River will use a cofferdam to halt the flow of water. The principles behind a cofferdam have been understood and used for centuries in the construction of bridges and other water-based structures, which can be seen in a book from the History of Hydraulics Collections. The 1685 book L’arte di restituire à Roma la tralasciata nauigatione del suo Teuere, by Cornelis Meijer, features many engravings demonstrating engineering principles, including two pages showing the construction of a temporary dam on a river. The detail above depicts a crew placing long wooden logs in a double-row diamond shaped pattern. The space between rows will be filled with dirt or some other packing material to minimize leaks, and once completed, the water inside can be drained, allowing work to be conducted on the riverbed. The illustration below shows the end result, with a work crew inside the structure. This technique was often used to build the foundations for bridges.
The History of Hydraulics Collection contains many works illustrating the development of engineering principles still in use today. The collection also complements the holdings of the Lichtenberger Engineering Library, providing access on campus to both primary and secondary sources in this important engineering field. A case in point is the 1680 book De aquis et aquaeductibus veteris Romae, Raffaele Fabretti’s survey of Roman Aqueducts that is one of the first major studies of them to be conducted scientifically. The original, seen below, is part of the History of Hydraulics Collection and can be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room. The Lichtenberger Engineering Library has a copy of an English translation, Aqueduct Hunting in the Seventeenth Century, that includes recent commentary on Fabretti’s accomplishments. Together, these resources provide a detailed look at historical ideas still relevant to modern practices.
