Chen Zhikai

Photograph

Dates

Chen Zhikai, 28 Nov, 1926 – 19 Oct, 2013

Biography

Chen Zhikai was born in Shanghai. From 1946 to 1950, he studied at the Department of Water Conservancy Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University. From June 1950 to the autumn of 1954, he served as a technician and engineer of the East China Water Resources Ministry, mainly engaged in the hydrographic survey of the Yishusi River. He was transferred to the Technical Bureau of the Beijing Ministry of Water Resources at the end of 1954, and was transferred to the Beijing Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research to participate in the preparation of the Hydrology department. From December 1969 to May 1976, he was assigned to the Sixth Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power of Sichuan Yuzixi and transferred back to Beijing in May 1976, until his retirement in 1992. During the period, he served successively as engineer, senior engineer, professor-level senior engineer, and director of the Water Resources Research Department. In 2000, he served as a member of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources and was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2001.

Hydrological Achievements

Chen Zhikai conducted the adaptability comparative study of the P-III frequency curve and the K-M frequency curve to hydrological data in China, which promoted the application of the P-III frequency curve in hydrological calculations in China.

He set up China's first rainstorm scientific research team. From 1958 to 1959, he compiled the "Atlas of Chinese Rainstorm Parameters". In 1965, he and Wang Jiaqi and others discussed the concepts and calculation methods of frequency analysis of rainstorm, the design of rainstorm, the rainstorm time distribution rain pattern, the relationship between the length and the duration of the rainstorm, the 24h point design rainstorm formula in paper “Analysis and Calculation Method of Design Rainstorm in Small and Medium Watershed”. The theories and calculation methods laid the foundation for the later formulation of China's design rainstorm specifications and promoted the research and application of the probable maximum precipitation (PMP).

He proposed the analysis results of the water supply and demand balance in different planning level year. He developed the joint dispatch of surface water and groundwater and non-traditional water resources utilization technologies. He proposed the rational allocation plan and implementation opinions of the Yellow River Basin based on the macro-economy of water resources.Under his promotion, guidance, and direct participation, the Hydrographic Bureau of the Ministry of Water Resources organized and carried out the first water resources evaluation in my country, and found out the total amount of water resources, temporal and spatial distribution, formation mechanisms, and influencing factors in China for the first time.