Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov , was a great
Russian engineer renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for
civil engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of oil reservoirs,
pipelines,
boilers, ships and
barges. Shukhov is particularly reputed for his original designs of
hyperboloid towers such as the
Shabolovka Tower.
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov , was a great
Russian engineer renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for
civil engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of oil reservoirs,
pipelines,
boilers, ships and
barges. Shukhov is particularly reputed for his original designs of
hyperboloid towers such as the
Shabolovka Tower.
Biography
Vladimir Shukhov was born in a town of Graivoron,
Belgorod uezd,
Kursk gubernia into a petty noble family. His father Grigory Ivanovich Shukhov was a minor government official, promoted for his efforts in the
Crimean War. For a while Grigory served as Mayor of Graivoron and later as an administrator in
Warsaw.
In 1864 Vladimir entered
Saint Petersburg gymnasium from which he graduated with distinction in 1871. During his high school years he showed mathematical talents, once demonstrating to his classmates and teacher an original proof of the
Pythagorean theorem. The teacher praised his skills but he failed the grade for violating the textbook's guidelines.
After graduating from the gymnasium, Shukhov entered the
Imperial Moscow Technical School, in which his teachers included
Pafnuty Chebyshev,
Aleksey Letnikov, and
Nikolay Zhukovsky. In 1876 Shukhov graduated from the school with distinction and a Gold Medal. Chebyshev proposed him a job as a lecturer in mathematics at the Imperial Moscow Technical School, but Shukhov decided to seek a job in the industry instead.
Thereupon Shukhov went to
Philadelphia, to work on the Russian pavilion at the
World's Fair and to study the inner workings of the American industry. During his stay in the US Shukhov came to know a Russian-American entrepreneur, Alexander Veniaminovich Bari who also worked on the organization of the Fair.
In 1877 Shukhov returned to Russia and joined the drafting office of the Warsaw-
Vienna railroad. Within several months, Shukhov's frustration with standard and routine engineering made him abandon the office and join a military-medical academy.
On his coming to Russia in 1877, Bari persuaded Shukhov to give up his medical education and to assume the office of Chief Engineer in a new company specializing in innovative engineering. Shukhov worked with Bari at this company until the October Revolution. Their works revolutionized many areas of civil engineering, ship engineering, and oil industry.
Shukhov always found time for a passionate
hobby - photography. The opened new trends ahead of their flourishing of Fine art photography. He made photos in various
genres:
reporting, city
landscape,
portrait, constructivism. About two thousand photos and negatives made by Shukhov hav been kept till our time.
After the October Revolution Shukhov decided to stay in the
Soviet Union despite having received alluring job offers from around the world. Many signal Soviet engineering projects of the
1920s were associated with his name. In 1919 he framed his slogan:
We should work independently from politics. The buildings, boilers, beams would be needed and so would we. In the later
1930s during the Great Purge he retired from engineering work but was not arrested or persecuted.
Shukov died on February 2 1939 in Moscow and was buried at the
Novodevichy Cemetery. His many honours included the
Lenin Prize and the title of Hero of Labour .
Works
Vladimir Shukhov is often referred as the Russian
Edison for the sheer quantity and quality of his pioneering works. He was one of the first to develop practical calculations of stresses and
deformations of beams, shells and membranes on elastic foundation. These theoretical results allowed him to design the first Russian oil tanker, new types of oil tanker barges, and a new type of oil reservoirs. The same principle of the shell on an elastic foundation allowed to theoretically calculate the optimal diameter, wall thickness and fluid speed for the fluid pipelines. Shukhov's projects were instrumental in constructing:
- An oil pipeline, the first in the world, between Balkhany and Cherny Gorod near Baku . By 1883 the total length of Shukhov-designed, Bari-built oil pipelines in Baku exceeded 94 km, transporting 30 thousands barrels of oil per day. In 1894 a similar pipeline network was built in Grozny. In 1904 they built the first Trans-Caucasian kerosene pipeline between Baku and Batum .
- A superior design for water-mains. Shukhov designed complete water-supply systems for the cities of Tambov, Kharkov
Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine [i]. ...
,
Voronezh and many others. In that age of infectious diseases his water-supply systems literally saved thousands of lives.
- A superior design for oil-tanker barges , 84 150-meters long barges were built as well as the first Russian sea-worthy oil tanker ship. His approach to the ship strength analysis was absolutely novel for that time.
- Shukhov-designed inexpensive oil tanks with the bottom calculated as a membrane on elastic foundation. They became very popular among oil-producers of the Imperial Russia. By 1881, 130 such tanks were built in Baku alone.
Shukhov made important contributions to the chemical industry:
- He designed an original oil pump. Shukhov's pumps revolutionized Baku's oil industry allowing to increase its oil output.
- He designed one of the first furnace
...
s that used the residual oil: before his works the residual oil was considered a waste and was discarded, due to his works it became recognized as an important technical product known as a
fuel oil.
Shukhov also left a lasting legacy to the
Constructivist architecture of early Soviet Russia. As a leading specialist of metallic structures , he may be compared with
Gustave Eiffel. Shukhov's innovative and exquisite constructions still grace many towns across the former
Russian Empire:
- Eight thin-shell structures exhibition pavilions for the Nizhny Novgorod Fair of 1896, covering the area of 27,000 m², and featuring an unorthodox water-tower that served as a model for more than 30 similar structures built in Imperial Russia, and thousands around the world now.
...
, and other rivers.
See also
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Major works
References
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- "The Nijni-Novgorod exhibition: Water tower, room under construction, springing of 91 feet span", "The Engineer", ? 19.3.1897, P.292-294, London, 1897.
- a dissertation in architecture, 264 p., University of Pennsylvania, 2000.
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- , und andere, 192 S., Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1990.
Photos of Works
