Simmons (2008) Henry Darcy (1803-1858)
Contents
Citation[edit]
Simmons, C.T., 2008. Henry Darcy (1803–1858): Immortalised by his scientific legacy. Hydrogeology Journal, 16(6), pp.1023-1038.
Description[edit]
From the Introduction: "This article describes the many contributions Darcy made to hydraulics, including Darcy’s Law. But what many hydrogeologists may not realise is that Darcy made other contributions to science and engineering that are possibly less familiar. He was the first to describe aquifer resistance, he furnished the very first evidence of the fluid boundary layer, he made major contributions to pipe hydraulics as evidenced by the joint naming of the commonly used Darcy-Weisbach pipe friction equation, he clearly understood the nature of laminar/turbulent flow regimes and recognised the similarity of his law to Poiseuille flow. Many of these experimental observations were facilitated by improvements Darcy made to the Pitot tube that both yielded its modern design and allowed for more accurate measurements of the pipe fluid flow velocity distribution. Finally, not only did Darcy discover Darcy’s Law, he was the first to combine it with continuity to develop the falling head permeameter solution that is still used today. He also applied that unsteady solution to the analysis of spring discharge. Whilst Darcy is immortalised by Darcy’s Law, it is clear that his scientific legacy extends beyond it."
