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Memorial Tributes Volume 14 (2011) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

ROBERT O. REID
Pages 284-289

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From page 285...
... Although his contributions to physical oceanography and meteorology were very substantial, including serving as founding editor of the Journal of Physical Oceanography for 11 years, this memoriam will focus primarily on his engineering achievements in practice and education.
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From page 286...
... His contributions ranged from geotechnical considerations in offshore pipeline design to hydrodynamic loading on offshore platforms during extreme weather conditions. Along with Charles Bretschneider, Bob rapidly advanced the available knowledge related to offshore platform design, including the stability limit for breaking waves in water depths ranging from shallow to deep water, damping of waves as they propagate over various bottom sediment types, and the development and application of methods to transform measurements of irregular water surface profiles to wave velocities and accelerations, the latter being required to compute realistic wave forces.
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From page 287...
... Prior to the capabilities to measure water particle velocities under waves and computer capabilities to apply spectral techniques, he applied a technique to objectively design numerical filters, which when convolved with the water surface, yielded the time histories of the water particle velocities and accelerations at any selected elevation within the water column. Bob addressed many aspects of hurricanes and their effect on nearshore flooding, including the first numerical modeling of hurricane surges penetrating into Galveston Bay.
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From page 288...
... He developed and applied the first orthogonal coordinate system, which allowed a conformal mapping approach to the tsunami amplification on an irregularly shaped island. It was found that large observed inundations were primarily controlled by the geometry of the island and adjacent bathymetry and were relatively insensitive to the tsunami approach direction.
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From page 289...
... students since then." As a student of Bob's while studying at Texas A&M for my master's degree in the 1950s, I sometimes felt a bit embarrassed that none of us could ask an intelligent question after one of his thorough lectures. His engineering legacy includes extremely significant contributions to our understanding and design capabilities in the nearshore and a cadre of former students whose lives have been enriched by their association with such an inspiring and productive mentor.
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Key Terms

  • water surface
  • water particle
  • wave forces
  • particle velocities
  • hurricane surges

  • former students
  • storm surge
  • deep water
  • water wave
  • offshore petroleum

  • peculiar phenomenon
  • ocean engineering
  • crest height
  • orthogonal coordinate
  • focus primarily

  • compute realistic
  • tsunami amplification
  • bob addressed
  • geotechnical considerations
  • developed empirical

  • breaking waves
  • wave force
  • wave velocities
  • prediction capabilities
  • extreme weather

  • legacy includes
  • surge prediction
  • phenomenon termed
  • coastal engineering
  • hoc coupling


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