IIHR has a long and illustrious history of ship hydrodynamics research, which began in earnest in 1954 when Lou Landweber came to the institute from his leadership role at the David Taylor Model Basin. According to an account in Flowing Through Time: A History of the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, by Cornelia F. Mutel, Landweber was skilled in research as well as administration, and immediately took over the institute’s large theoretical and experimental studies connected with naval architecture and hydraulics. Under Landweber’s guidance, IIHR began a major new research initiative focusing on ship hydrodynamics. This work continues today.

V.C. Patel, pictured below, joined IIHR in 1971 after meeting Lou Landweber at Cambridge. Patel says that Landweber was his role model in his early years at the institute. Patel’s initial research at IIHR involved bringing methods used in aeronautics to ship hydrodynamics, with sponsorship from the U.S. Navy. This involved experimental work in wind tunnels and, increasingly, with computers. Patel and his colleagues were doing CFD (computational fluid dynamics) well before the term became commonplace. Later, that research transitioned to computational hydraulics, and underpinned many projects in diverse areas of applied hydraulics. Patel’s long and distinguished career culminated with service as IIHR director from 1994 to 2004.

Today, IIHR’s ship hydrodynamics team is led by Fred Stern, who directs a team of diverse and talented research scientists and students. Pablo Carrica (right, below) also conducts research in the area of ship hydrodynamics and leads a team of student researchers. We invite you to learn more about our people on the pages listed at left.