EKWALL

SWEDEN (see also List of Individuals)

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1.5.1881 Stockholm/S - 23.3.1940 Boden/S

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Axel Ekwall graduated as a civil engineer from the Royal Technical University of Stockholm in 1903 and then joined the Trollhättan water power scheme until 1909. He was promoted in 1910 to Lieutenant of the Swedish Corps of Roads and Bridges and placed from 1911 to 1914 as chief engineer to the Royal Hydraulic Department. From then until 1929 he gradually achieved the position of lieutenant-colonel posted during World War I in Göteborg, then from 1917 to 1921 to the Imatra hydropower plant in Finland and from 1923 to the Governmental Hydraulic Laboratory. He acted from 1929 as chief engineer of the Swedish Hydropower Office and there added considerably to the wealth of Swedish hydropower resources. Ekwall represented from 1930 Sweden at the Permanent International Congresses of River Navigation PIANC, and the International Committee of Large Dams ICOLD founded in 1931. He also was the Swedish representative of the 1933 International World Power Congress held in Sweden. He was a Member of the Swedish Engineering Academy.

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Ekwall contributed significantly to the development of hydropower in Sweden during the Golden years of hydraulic engineering. Some of the schemes in which he was involved are Trollhättan, Göta, Motala, and Malfors. He also actively contributed to Swedish inland canals and was a pioneer in using hydropower resources in an Arctic country, with special design problems caused by low temperatures. During his stay at the Swedish Hydraulic Laboratory, Ekwall also took interest in the development of turbines, mainly the Kaplan turbine introduced by Viktor Kaplan (1876-1934) in the 1920s. In the early stages, this turbine suffered from problems with cavitation due to high rotational speeds, and had to be developed to improve longevity.

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_{Ekwall, A. (1915). Slusskonstruktioner och techniska hjälpmedel vid kanalbyggnader. Teknisk Tidskrift 45(34): 329-331.}

_{Ekwall, A. (1920). Väg- und vattenbyggnadskonst. Teknisk Tidskrift 50: 80-90.}

_{Ekwall, A., Lübeck, S.E. (1923). Utilization of navigable waterways in Sweden for power development. 13 International Navigation Congress London Q5: 1-18.}

_{Ekwall, A. (1933). Détérioration, par vieillissement, du béton des barrages-poids. 1 ICOLD Congress Stockholm GR: 169-217.}

_{Malm, G. (1940). Axel Ekwall. Teknisk Tidskrift 70(13): 105-106. P}

_{Wittrock, P., Hildebrand, B. (1950). Axel Ekwall. Svenskt biografiskt Lexikon 13: 234-238.}

_{Bonnier: Stockholm, with bibliography.}