Charles E. Bowers

In 2000, the University of Minnesota created an award in Bowers' honor, to annually recognize an outstanding computer science and engineering (CSE) professor who has demonstrated exceptional interest and commitment to teaching.

His most significant research involved a study of the cause of the failure of Kaptai Dam on the Karnafuli river in Bangladesh. The river originates in the Himalaya Mountains and the dam was supposed to protect against floods during the monsoon season. The dam is 136 feet high with a 745 foot wide spillway designed for a maximum flow of 640,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). Hydraulic jumps and a stilling basin were used to dissipate the energy of the water flowing down the spillway before entering the channel and impacting the channel below the dam. The spillway failed during the first monsoon season it experienced (in 1962) at a level (123,000 cfs), far below the design flow. Bowers was in charge of analyzing the cause of the failure, and they had to determine a solution before the next monsoon season. Their steady flow analysis and tests indicated the design was correct and the spillway should have survived at the flow where it failed. Prior to this time, information was not available on the magnitude of pressure fluctuations in hydraulic jumps (used to dissipate the energy in the water flowing down the spillway) and instrumentation was not available to measure the fluctuations.

Bowers conducted a wide variety of studies, including testing the design for Taconite Harbor in Lake Superior. He concluded that the armor layer using 20 ton rocks was adequate and the harbor was built and has survived until today. He also concluded that the 6 ton rock design used in Silver Bay harbor would not survive the 20 foot wave that the breakwater was designed for. In 1958, two years after the Taconite Harbor breakwater was completed, a storm destroyed the Silver Bay breakwater, but the Taconite Harbor breakwater survived.

Bowers received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Wyoming in 1942. He then received an M.S. in Civil Engineering in 1949 from the University of Minnesota.

In 1942, Bowers joined the David Taylor Model Basin in Washington, D.C. He conducted hundreds of tests of ships and structures using the Circulating Water Channel and the Towing Basin. A particularly important project came up during World War II. Aircraft torpedoes were not exploding on impact with enemy ships, and the Allies were losing many ships to German and Japanese warships and submarines. This was particularly true at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Bowers had to assemble a team and within a week had to design a system to impact torpedoes at 24 knots into targets at various angles and begin tests. They completed the tests and determined that the switches in the circuit were opening on impact before the signal to fire the explosive was sent. A redesigned circuit was successful and deployed throughout the Navy, and had a big impact on the war effort.

Charles E. Bowers (September 3, 1919 – December 22, 2008) was an American civil engineer, researcher, and educator. He was awarded the Collingwood Prize in 1950 for his study of the Panama Canal.