| Obituary


Above: The 150MW Mossyrock Dam on the Cowlitz River in Washington, US, was completed in 1969. The 606ft dam was a record thin arch in the country. The spillway discharges into a 200ft-deep plunge pool below the dam


load analyses would be done on computer and that slide rules were on the way out.” With regards to the designs from the Karadj Project in Iran, Roman said it was interesting “to find that many of the details that we developed for Karadj are still being copied now” on many projects in other countries. Following completion of the Karadj project in 1962, Harza got the contract for the Mossyrock Project in Washington State, which evolved into a two-dam scheme.


Shortly after design started, Roman was put in charge of the Advance Structural Design Section, creating a unique opportunity where they continued to advance the design functions for double curvature arch dams. Roman noted “that thin multi-curvature arch dams of this height were still unusual at this time. Mossyrock, at 606ft was the highest one in the US and still is amongst the highest”.


In the early 1980s Harza got the design for the double curvature Strontia Springs Dam for the Denver Water Board. This 292ft high double thin arch dam was situated on the South Platte River in Colorado. The design was a capstone to Roman’s career and brought


Above: The Mayfield Dam on the Cowlitz River in the US was completed in 1963. It is a 250ft high, single curvature reinforced concrete arch dam with a 120MW initial rated capacity - 40.5MW was added in 1982


him to the point of facing a soon to emerge retirement as the project was completed in 1982. Reflecting upon his career, Roman made the point that “Harza always had a thin multiple curvature arch dam under design.” And as time evolved, he came to the conclusion that the “finite element method would soon become the dominant method” of structural analysis, as it is still today. In the end, and in his own words, Roman attributed all his successes to the many projects he had the opportunity to develop, along with the wisdom and knowledge of his colleagues that worked with him. These include expert geologists, together with those experienced in concrete placement and those with construction expertise to convert the actual designs into concrete and steel, which he concluded was no small task. Dr. C.H. Yeh, a colleague of Roman, offers this in his own tribute: “Roman was a close friend for over 50 years, and at the same time my supervisor, as we worked alongside each other to introduce the finite element method of structural analysis, which has become an industry standard.” ●


Above: After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1954, Roman Wengler spent his entire professional career at Harza


Authors notes


The authors of this article are Stephen Simmons, Dr CH Yeh and Frank Wengler


A personal perspective Frank R Wengler is one of Roman Wengler’s sons and works in the global aviation business.


Harza Engineering Company was everything to my dad. He was most passionate about his fellow teammates who joined together to work on fantastic projects around the world. It was always impressive to hear about his path from a small town in rural west Minnesota to Harza with stops as a railroad telegrapher, US Army soldier during the tail end of World War II and ultimately part of Harza’s success as a leading dam consulting firm. It always seemed pretty cool that these huge projects were emanating from Harza offices in downtown Chicago. It was a real treat to take the Chicago and Northwestern train on Saturdays from time to time in the 1960s down to Harza’s Chicago office. The Harza offices had endless rows of drafting tables demonstrating immaculate penmanship and intricate details that would eventually be transformed into monstrous structures. I loved going to O’Hare International Airport to drop off or pick my dad up from one of his global voyages. I really enjoyed seeing


the airplanes in action and vowed I would someday get involved in that industry. The civil engineering inspiration from my dad and Harza coupled with my fascination with O’Hare led to my career in the aviation consulting industry. I don’t think we really recognised the achievements of Harza and


my dad’s team until much later. My dad was pretty no nonsense and not boastful in any way. He was extremely passionate about his 11 grandchildren. The sense of pride his family had in his work didn’t really start to fully resonate until he started reminiscing and telling stories about his work to the grandchildren. My dad was fascinated by arch dams and totally committed


to Harza Engineering Company and his teammates. I think he was proud that the lives of people in faraway locales such as Venezuela, China, Iran, and even home here in the US, could be so positively impacted through water supply, energy generation and flood control as a result of Harza’s efforts.


www.waterpowermagazine.com | November 2022 | 11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53