Henrique Oliveira, Department of Global Studies, NOVA Lisbon University
"The making of the world's deepest piers - matrix analysis and model testing for seismic design in the Tagus River Bridge project (1959- 1962)"
Abstract:This paper focuses on the work carried out by Tudor Engineering Company (TEC) and its consultants (led by George Housner), for the seismic design of the foundations for the towers of the Tagus River Bridge (today the April 25 Bridge). Built between 1962 and 1966, the bridge was one of the biggest project’s carried out by the fascist New State regime (1933-1974). It was also a project in which digital computers were used by the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (NLCE) – the public institution responsible for reviewing public works projects, whose international reputation was based on work using physical models. As such, I devote my attention to TEC and NLEC relations during the seismic design process, highlighting their methodological differences, resulting in instances of cooperation and conflict which, in turn, illustrate the political and economic nature of the history of computing in engineering. By focusing on this aspect of the larger design and review process of the project, I argue that digital computers were instrumental in shielding TEC from NLEC’s oversight, providing them with greater autonomy in the process. This was done in two ways: from a technical perspective, given the laboratory’s lack of capacity to properly evaluate the contractor’s project, and a technological one, considering the limited capabilities of the computer they owned. Thus, I argue that TEC’s autonomy ultimately contributed to differences between the project’s initial and final cost, following the contractor’s presentation of a geological study (halfway through construction) deeming structural reinforcements (for withstanding seismic stress) necessary. Lastly, I finish my paper by contextualizing this specific case in larger issues of the post-war New State political economy, and the transnational history of American engineering business, to reflect on the political and economic nature of the history of computing
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