In our age of digital technologies, it is difficult to imagine that computing systems can be implemented not on semiconductors, but on water. But just such a hydrointegrator was developed and successfully applied by the Soviet engineer Vladimir Lukyanov.
In the 1930s, the construction of railways was carried out using a pick, a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Concrete work was nowhere worse. Cement grade, composition, laying temperature - the quality of concrete directly depended on the number of components. In winter, such concrete cracked and collapsed.
Ordinary genius
In 1925, a young track engineer Vladimir Lukyanov arrived to build the Troitsk-Orsk railway. Due to the unpredictable quality of concrete compositions, concreting was carried out only in the summer. Low temperatures led to concrete deterioration and destruction.
In an attempt to understand the dependence of concrete quality on temperature, Lukyanov used partial differential equations.
In his work, Lukyanov turned to the works of other scientists: Pavlovsky, Krylov and Kirpichev. In particular, Krylov in 1910 created a unique mechanical computer - a differential integrator, which made it possible to solve ordinary differential equations of the 4th order. And Academician Pavlovsky in 1918 proved that if physical processes are described by the same equation, then they can be replaced. Academician Kirpichev's merit was in the creation of a method of local thermal modeling.
Summarizing these developments, Lukyanov came to the conclusion that the movement of water can simulate the spread of heat. In 1934, he described the principle of hydraulic technology, and two years later, on its basis, he developed a "one-dimensional hydraulic integrator" - IG-1. Its design was ingeniously simple: the volume of water in a vessel was an integral of the function describing the flow of liquid into this vessel. If the vessel is provided with a scale with volume units, then the simplest integrator of the volumetric flow rate of the liquid will be obtained. The first examples of integrators made of tin and glass tubes could solve only one problem.
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Later Lukyanov improved the design. The main unit was vertical vessels of different volumes, interconnected by tubes with variable hydraulic resistance. The tubes were also connected to the moving vessels. Raising and lowering them, they changed the pressure of water in the main vessels. By varying the arrangement of the vessels, it was possible to adjust the movement of the fluid to different equations.
Before starting work, scientists drew up a calculation scheme for the process. Then the vessel structure was assembled. The relationships between the parts of the device were determined by the same formulas. Different processes could be simulated by pouring the liquid. And not only the quality of concrete work. In 1941, Vladimir Lukyanov improved his hydrointegrator. Now he began to solve two-dimensional problems, and later - and three-dimensional.
New samples
In 1949, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, a special NIISchetmash was created in Moscow. He selected new models of computer technology for production. One of the first to be selected was the Lukyanov hydrointegrator. Simplicity of design and high reliability of operation spoke in his favor. In 1951, Lukyanov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for the creation of a "water computer". But their release began only in 1955. In addition to the USSR, the device was supplied to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and China.
In the 1960-1970s, the integrator Lukyanov was used for scientific calculations of the project of the Karakum Canal and the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The devices were also successfully used in geology, mine construction, building thermal physics, metallurgy, etc. The calculations of the hydrointegrator in the manufacture of reinforced concrete blocks of the world's first hydroelectric power station from precast concrete in Saratov could be considered exemplary. There it was necessary to create a technology for manufacturing about three thousand blocks weighing up to 200 tons. The blocks had to ripen without cracking in all seasons and quickly set up on site. As a result, a unique technology for the production of high quality blocks was calculated and created.
For a long time, the Lukyanov hydrointegrator was more efficient than a computer based on lamps and transistors. But in the 1970s, the progress of semiconductor technology made itself felt. And in the 1980s, their advantage became undeniable, and "water computers" gave way to them. Today, a working sample of the IGL can be seen only in the Polytechnic Museum of Moscow.
Alexey ANIKIN