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ROY W. CARLSON
1900-1990
BY WALLACE L. CHADWICK
RoYw CARLSON, consulting civil engineer, teacher, inventor,
and specialist in materials technology, particularly Portland
cement concrete, died November 21,1990, in Oakland, Califor-
nia, at age ninety. At the time of his death, he was retired research
associate at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. CarIson was born in Big Stone, Minnesota, on September
23,1900. He graduated from the UniversityofRedIands (Califor-
nia) in 1922 with an A.B. in mathematics. In 1923-1924 he
studied at the California Institute of Technology, majoring in
physics. The following year he received an M.S. in civil engineer-
ing from the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1939 a
Sc.D. in materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy (MIT).
Dr. CarIson began his engineering career in 1925 as a con-
crete inspector on construction of the Florence Lake multiple-
arch dam of the Southern California Edison Company in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. This experience whetted
a keen interest in concrete dam design that was furthered while
serving as an inspector of construction and testing of the Steven-
son Creek Test Dam, also in the Sierra Nevada, during 1925 and
1926. This dam was built as a research tool to supplement the
technology then used in designing arch clams.
Elected to membership in the NationalAcademyofEngineer-
ing in 1974, Carlson received a Berkeley Citation from the
37
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38
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
University of California in 1980, and in 1984 he was awardecI the
Order of the Southern Cross by the government of Brazil in
recognition of his contributions to the engineering of large
hydroelectric power developments in that country, including
the great Itaipu project where he solved puzzling problems with
Portland cement concrete construction. Such an award is sel-
dom made to a foreign individual.
CarIson received an honorary doctor of science degree from
the University of Rec3lands in 1951, the DudIey Medal of the
American Society for Testing Materials, and the Wason and
Turner Medals from the American Concrete Institute. In 1972
he received an Outstanding Civilian Service Award from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. He was elected an honorary member
of the American Concrete Institute in 1967, and a fellow of the
American Society of Civil Engineers.
During 1944 Carlson worker! at Los Alamos and at the Radia-
tion Laboratory at Berkeley on development and testing of the
atomic bomb, his particular role being development of the
required high-strength materials.
CarIson wrote fifty-six technical papers that were published by
various professional societies. The subjects were principally
design and testing of remote sensing instruments for measuring
stress, strain, temperature, pore pressure, similitude require-
ments for model construction and testing, structural action in
clams and bridges, safety of dams, concrete technology, chemis-
try of cement and concrete, and methods of structural analysis.
The Stevenson Creek Experimental Dam, built of high-quality
concrete, was 60 feet high, and varied from 7.5 feet thick at its
base to 2 feet thick through its upper 30 feet. It was tested to
failure. When really for loading, it was packed with instruments
and built to the leading edge of the current technology. Howev-
er, acceptable instruments to measure internal stress did not yet
exist, and authoritative opinion doubted the possibility of devel-
oping such devices. This notion challenged Carlson, who invest-
ec3 in, built, and for many years manufactured instruments for
measurement of stress, strain, temperature, and pressure. He
proved that compressive stress could be measures! in a semielas-
tic material without nee(ling to know the (reformation. Thou-
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ROY W. CARLSON
39
sands of Carlson's instruments were built into major dams of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclama-
tion, as well as those of Brazil and other countries.
In addition to his development and manufacture of instru-
ments for internal measurements of concrete dams, Carlson
developed a worldwide consulting practice and for eight years
was active as lecturer and research assistant at MIT, and later at
the University of California, Berkeley. CarIson was an active
member of the Committee on the Long Term Performance of
Portland Cement in Concrete that developed the five kinds of
Portland cement now in general use.
Carlson was testing engineer on ten dams for the Los Angeles
CountyFlood Control Districtfrom 1927 to 1931. He then served
until 1934 as assistant director of Research on Materials for the
construction of Hoover Dam. Following that he divided his time
between teaching; the manufacture of instruments of his own
design: and consultation on concrete dams. structural analysis,
~ ,
and concrete technology.
Carlson was the clonor of several auxiliary facilities of the
Engineering Department of the University of California, Berke-
ley. He owned patents on the CarIson Strain Meter #2,036,45S,
Electric Pressure Meters #2,059,549, Stress Meters #2,14S,013,
and stress meter for soils en cl granular materials #3,529,468.
Carlson resumed manufacture of his instruments in 1972 in a
limited partnership with Walter D. Dieclen. The writer gratefully
acknowledges the assistance of Mr. Dieden in assembling bio-
graphical data for this memorial tribute.
Carlson is survived by two daughters, Susan C. Ichinaga of
Morgan Hill, California, and Sally C. Brasseur of Penn Grove,
California.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
stevenson creek
