The Albert Shields Story
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Volume 121, Issue 11
Abstract
In the vast literature on sediment transport, rivers, and related topics, few if any names are more frequently cited than Albert F. Shields (1908–1974). Yet all of these citations are to a single publication: his doctoral thesis submitted to the Technischen Hochschule Berlin in 1936 in which he developed his ideas on Aenlichkeitsmechanik (similarity mechanics) for application to riverine sediment transport, ripple formation, and initiation of motion. Shields' most famous results are his graph for critical tractive force (initiation of particle motion), and secondarily, his sediment-transport formula. Presented here is the story of the many difficulties Shields encountered in conducting his research in Nazi Germany; his inability to find employment in hydraulics following his return to his native United States; the chance encounter with and promulgation of his work by Rouse; and his eventual relinquishment of hydraulics for a long and successful career in machine design.
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Shields, A. (1936a). “Anwendung der Aehnlichkeitsmechanik und der Turbulenzforschung auf die Geschiebebewegung.”Mitteilungen der Preussiischen Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau und Schiffhau, Heft 26, Berlin, Germany (in German), (English translation by W. P. Ott and J. C. van Uchelen available as Hydrodynamics Laboratory Publication No. 167, Hydrodynamics Lab., California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena).
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Shields, A. (1936b). “Anwendung der Aehnlichkeitsmechanik und der Turbulenzforschung auf die Geschiebebewegung,” Doktor-Ingenieurs dissertation, Technischen Hochschule Berlin, Germany (in German).
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Weinig, F., and Shields, A. (1936). “Graphisches Verfahren zur Ermittlung der Sickerströmung durch Staudämme.”Wasserkraft und Wasserwirtschaft, Heft 18, 233–240 (in German).
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 121 • Issue 11 • November 1995
Pages: 766 - 772
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Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Nov 1, 1995
Published in print: Nov 1995
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