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FRANK E.
(BILL) RICHART, JR.
1918-1994
WRITTEN BY RICHARD D. WOODS
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
F. E. (Bun) RICHART, W. ]. Emmons Professor Emeritus of
Civil Engineering, the University of Michigan, engineer en cl
eclucator, died on September 16, 1994, at the age of seventy-
five at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Electecl to the National Academy of Engineering in April 1969,
Bill was an outstanding engineering educator, declicated to the
clevelopment of four generations of university students. He was
also a pioneer in defining the specialty field of soil clynamics,
including the development of design procedures for the selec-
tion of foundations for vibrating machinery, sensitive
instruments, and structures subject to earthquake shaking.
Bill received his education from the University of TIlinois-
B.S. (1940), M.S. (1946) and Ph.D. (1948~. He received his
bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, his master's in
civil engineering, en c! his Ph.D. in engineering/appliec! me-
chanics en cl structures. He later received honorary degrees
from the University of Florida en cl Northwestern University in
1972 en cl 1987, respectively.
During his academic career, Bill taught at Harvard Universi-
ty as an assistant professor from 1948 to 1952, the University
of Florida as an associate professor from 1952 to 1954 and as
full professor from 1954 to 1962, en cl the University of Michi-
gan as a professor, 1962 to 1986. At the University of Michigan,
Bill served as chairman of the Department of Civil Engineer
213
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214
.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
sing from 1962 through 1969, and under his leadership, the
department gained national stature and recognition. He was
an outstanding technical leacler, researcher, administrator,
and recognized authority in his field. He chaired eighteen
doctoral committees, developing nine engineering educators
and countless engineering practitioners.
F. E. Richart's contributions in engineering science have
made it possible to design foundations and structures to resist
the destructive forces of water waves, earthquakes, and other
ground-borne vibrations. These contributions were made
through the branch of civil engineering known as geotechni-
cal engineering ant! specifically in the subdiscipline for which
he is credited as an originator, soil dynamics.
Before the research of F. E. Richart, the design procedures
for dynamically loadecl foundations of structures and earth
dams were mainly empirical and often produced less than sat-
isfactory results. In 1962 Bill published the award-winning
paper "Foundation Vibrations," which for the first time tied
together theoretical mechanics and soil properties for use in
analysis and design. Bill offered the first graduate course in
soil dynamics in the United States and possibly the world in
the fall of 1961 at the University of Florida. In 1970 he coau-
thored the worId-renowned textbook Vibrations of Soils and
Foundations with former students I. R. Hall and R. D. Woods.
This text remains after twenty-five years the basis for most
courses in soil dynamics and has been translated into ~apa-
nese, Chinese, and Romanian.
Bill was one of the first to recognize that soils behave differ-
ently under cyclic and dynamic loads than uncler static loads,
and he initiated research in the 1950s to define this behavior.
The response of soils to cyclic loads plays a role in the effects
of wave forces on structures in the marine environment, the
resistance of foundations to earthquake shaking, and the be-
havior of foundations for sensitive instruments en cl vibrating
machinery. To measure appropriate soil parameters, he di-
rected the development of both laboratory and field testing
apparatus and techniques. He guided the development of the
resonant column and cyclic torsional shear apparatus, which
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FLANK E. (BILL) RICHART,JR.
213
have become standard equipment for the laboratory, and the
adaptation of seismic crosshole and seismic surface wave tech-
niques for in situ measurement of soil properties.
Bilks more than 180 special lectures, seminars, workshops,
and short courses in the United States, Europe, the Middle
East, India, China, and Japan over three decades resulted in
applications of his developments throughout the world. One
~ . . .
ot his lectures was the Terzaghi Lecture, the most prestigious
named lecture in his field. His services were required in the
1950s for large radar antennas for the Distant Early Warning
, (A
(DEW Line) system. Later his work was applied to the design
of Texas Towers for both offshore tracking towers and of! ex-
ploration. The current state of the art in the design of
foundations for large structures, earth dams, and nuclear pow-
er plants to resist earthquake shaking is heavily based on the
methods developed by Bill Richart.
He shared his knowledge through more than seventy publi
. . . . .
~ ,
cations, tor WhICh ne won nine prestigious national awards,
and through his work as a consultant to many private and
government agencies. These included the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, U.S. Army Chief of
Engineers, U.S. Air Force Weapons Laboratory, U.S. Air Force
Science Advisory Board, U.S. Department of the Interior Bu-
reau of Reclamation, NASA Apollo Lunar Landing program,
and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Advisory Committee
for Reactor Safety.
Throughout his career, Bill was dedicated to the highest
standards in engineering education. As department chairman
of civil engineering at the University of Michigan, he greatly
enhanced the quality of civil engineering through recruitment
is . . 1 · ~ 1, ~ 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ . 1~ ~ ~ 1~ ~ . ~ ~ 1~ ~
of outstanding new faculty members, many or wnom nave oe-
come leaders in their own right. He nurtured many graduate
students who have gone on to make significant contributions
as researchers, practicing professional engineers, university
professors, department heads, and deans of engineering.
A loyal member of the American Society of Civil Engineers
(ASCE), he server! in many roles as chairman of technical com-
mittees and, most important, as chairman of the Executive
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216
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Committee of the Geotechnical Engineering Division from
1968 to 1969. He received the Terzaghi Awarc! and later was
recognized for his service to the ASCE, being elected as an
honorary member in 1986.
Bill was a lifelong avid golfer, winning many tournaments both
as an inclividual and with his wife Betty and sons John and Wil-
lard. He served as coach of the women's golf team at the
University of Michigan before a professional was appointed.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
geotechnical engineering
