ALEXANDER

IRELAND (see also List of Individuals)

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6.6.1879 Londonderry/UK - 15.12.1920 Cork/IE

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Conel William Long Alexander was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, and at Birmingham University. He obtained the B.E. degree with honors in 1901 and the M.Sc. degree on post graduate research. He was then on the staff of the city engineer of Birmingham, and became an associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers ICE in 1904. Alexander was appointed professor of civil engineering at University College, Cork, in 1906 at the age of 27. There he also inaugurated a hydraulic laboratory in 1916. He was a Member of the governing body and acted as deputy president of that college. He was elected a Member of ICE in 1913. He passed away due to illness and overwork at an age of only 41.

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Alexander contributed a number of papers to the Journal of the Engineering Society of University College, Cork. He was particularly known for a paper on the head loss of pressurized fluid flows across bends published in 1905. Early experiments were conducted by Pierre Du Buat (1734-1809) and employed by Adhémar Barré de Saint-Venant (1797-1886) in 1862 to compare them with his analytical approach. The head loss coefficient was found to depend mainly on the relative curvature for a deflection angle of 90°. The helicoidal flow structure across pipe bends was first described by James Thomson (1822-1892) in 1877. After the Americans Williams, Hubbell and Fenkell had conducted experimental research in pipe bends, Alexander was among the earliest having contributed with an additional study to the problem.

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_{Alexander, C.W.L. (1905). The resistance offered to the flow of water in pipes by bends and elbows. Minutes Institution Civil Engineers 159: 341-364.}

_{Alexander, C.W.L. (1913). The design of water pipes and culverts for maximum efficiency. Trans. Institution of Civil Engineers Ireland 39: 105-142.}

_{Alexander, C.W.L. (1913). Hydraulic diagrams for water mains, sewers, open channels and weirs. Cornish Brothers: Birmingham and Cork.}

_{Anonymous (1921). Prof. Alexander. Trans. Institution Civil Engineers Ireland 47: 74-76.}

_{Saint-Venant, A. Barré de (1862). Mémoire sur l'influence retardatrice de la courbure dans les courants d'eau. Comptes Rendus Académie de Science Paris 54: 28-42.}

_{Thomson, J. (1876). On the origin of windings of rivers in alluvial plains, with remarks on the flow of water round bends of pipes. Proc. Royal Society 25: 5-8. http://www.ginnisw.com/Cork%20Biographical%20Information/Thumb/Alexander%2C%20Conel%20William%20Long%20.htm http://www.ginnisw.com/Cork%20Biographical%20Information/Thumb/Alexander,%20Conel http://www.ginnisw.com/Cork%20Biographical%20Information/Thumb/Alexander%2C%20Conel%20William%20Long%20.htm %20William%20Long%20.htm http://www.ginnisw.com/Cork%20Biographical%20Information/Thumb/Alexander%2C%20Conel%20William%20Long%20.htm P}