William Froude (; 28 November 1810 in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

– 4 May 1879 in Simonstown, South Africa) was an English engineer, hydrodynamicist and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

. He was the first to formulate reliable laws for the resistance that water offers to ships (such as the

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-tro ...

equation) and for predicting their stability.

Biography

Froude was born at

Dartington Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington H ...

, Devon, England, the son of

Robert Froude Robert Hurrell Froude (1771–1859) was Archdeacon of Totnes in Devon, from 1820 to 1859. From 1799 to his death he was rector of Denbury and of Dartington in Devon. Origins He was born at Wakeham Farm in the parish of Aveton Gifford near Modbu ...

, Archdeacon of Totnes and was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, graduating with a

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

in mathematics in 1832. His first employment was as a surveyor on the South Eastern Railway which, in 1837, led to Brunel giving him responsibility for the construction of a section of the

Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...

. It was here that he developed his empirical method of setting out track transition curves and introduced an alternative design to the helicoidal

skew arch A skew arch (also known as an oblique arch) is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its ...

bridge at

Rewe Rewe (stylized as REWE; ) is a supermarket chain in Germany and the main brand of Rewe Group headquartered in Cologne. The name originated from an abbreviation of the original name "Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften" (Audit unio ...

and

Cowley Bridge Junction Cowley is a hamlet in the parish of Upton Pyne in Devon, England. Cowley church was built as a chapel of ease to Brampford Speke by Rohde Hawkins in 1867–8. It is chiefly notable for a fine three-arched bridge of classical design, built ov ...

, near

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. During this period he lived in

Cullompton Cullompton () is a town and civil parish in the district of Mid Devon and the county of Devon, England. It is north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm. In 2011 the parish as a whole had a population of 8,499 while the built-up area of ...

and was Vicar's Warden at St Andrew's Church from 1842 to 1844. He organised, and paid a large amount to the rebuilding of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and other restoration work. He also offered to pay to restore the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

if local people would pay 10% of the cost but this offer was refused. On completion of the Bristol to Exeter line in 1844 he left the town. At Brunel's invitation Froude turned his attention to the stability of ships in a seaway and his 1861 paper to the

Institution of Naval Architects The Royal Institution of Naval Architects (also known as RINA) is an international organisation representing naval architects. It is an elite international professional institution based in London. Its members are involved worldwide at all levels ...

became influential in ship design. This led to a commission to identify the most efficient hull shape, which he was able to fulfil by reference to scale models: he established a formula (now known as the

Froude number In continuum mechanics, the Froude number (, after William Froude, ) is a dimensionless number defined as the ratio of the flow inertia to the external field (the latter in many applications simply due to gravity). The Froude number is based on t ...

) by which the results of small-scale tests could be used to predict the behaviour of full-sized hulls. He built a sequence of 3, 6 and (shown in the picture) 12 foot scale models and used them in towing trials to establish resistance and scaling laws. His experiments were vindicated in full-scale trials conducted by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

and as a result the first ship test tank was built, at public expense, at his home in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

. Here he was able to combine mathematical expertise with practical experimentation to such good effect that his methods are still followed today. Froude also tested the "wave-line" theory of

John Scott Russell John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brune ...

. The model ''Raven'' had sharp lines in accordance with Scott Russell's theory. The ''Swan'' had fuller lines with blunt ends. ''Raven'' had less resistance at low speeds of the two, but ''Swan'' had less resistance at higher speeds. This showed that the "wave-line" theory was not as universal as claimed, and was the start of a better understanding of hull resistance. In 1877, he was commissioned by the Admiralty to produce a machine capable of absorbing and measuring the power of large naval engines. He invented and built the world's first

water brake A water brake is a type of fluid coupling used to absorb mechanical energy and usually consists of a turbine or propeller mounted in an enclosure filled with water. As the turbine or propeller turns, mechanical energy is transferred to the wat ...

dynamometer A dynamometer or "dyno" for short, is a device for simultaneously measuring the torque and rotational speed (RPM) of an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover so that its instantaneous power may be calculated, and usually displayed by the ...

, sometimes known as the hydraulic dynamometer, which led to the formation of

Heenan & Froude Heenan & Froude was a United Kingdom-based engineering company, founded in Newton Heath, Manchester, England in 1881 in a partnership formed by engineers Richard Froude and Richard Hammersley Heenan. Expanded on the back of William Froude's pat ...

Ltd in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. While on holiday as an official guest of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

he died in Simonstown, South Africa, where he was buried with full naval honours. He was the brother of

James Anthony Froude James Anthony Froude ( ; 23 April 1818 – 20 October 1894) was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of ''Fraser's Magazine''. From his upbringing amidst the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Froude intended to become a clergy ...

, a historian, and

Hurrell Froude Richard Hurrell Froude (25 March 1803 – 28 February 1836) was an Anglican priest and an early leader of the Oxford Movement. Life He was born in Dartington, Devon, the eldest son of Robert Froude ( Archdeacon of Totnes) and the elder brother ...

, writer and priest. William was married to Catherine Henrietta Elizabeth Holdsworth, daughter of the Governor of

Dartmouth Castle Dartmouth Castle is an artillery fort, built to protect Dartmouth, Devon, Dartmouth harbour in Devon, England. The earliest parts of the castle date from the 1380s, when, in response to the threat of a French attack, the civic authorities creat ...

, mercantile magnate and

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Arthur Howe Holdsworth.

Works

References

External links

*
Biography of William Froude

"Froude, William." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 April 2007.

'' Herald Express'', 26 December 2013. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Froude, William 1810 births 1879 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford British expatriates in South Africa Engineers from Devon Fellows of the Royal Society Fluid dynamicists British naval architects People educated at Westminster School, London People from South Hams (district) Royal Medal winners 19th-century British businesspeople

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links