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The curious story of the Soviet water computer that was used to prevent cracks in concrete

Water Integrator. Credit: Kramola.info.

In the 1936in the’Soviet Unionthe Russian engineer Vladimir Lukyanov he designed a calculator that ran on water at theInstitute of Way and Constructionnow known as TsNIIS (Central Research Institute of Transport Construction). This “water computer”also known as Water Integrator (“Hydraulic integrator”, in Russian Gidravličeskij integrator), represents one of the first attempts to create an analog machine capable of solving complex mathematical problems. In an era without transistors and integrated circuits, Lukyanov’s invention was an extraordinary solution to address a practical problem: calculating and prevent the formation of cracks in the concrete. The hydraulic integrator used a system of interconnected pipes, taps, and water chambers to represent and manipulate numbers, allowing you to solve partial differential equations.

How the Water Integrator was made and how it worked

Before the advent of electronics, analog computers were the pinnacle of computational technology that could be used. To simulate and solve complex mathematical problems, these based their operation on physical components such as gears, levers And fluids. In the specific case of the Water Integrator, the operation exploited the physics of water.

Try to imagine for a moment finding yourself in a room full of tin and glass pipes and pumpsin which every movement and variation of the water flow corresponds to a mathematical operation. This was essentially what could be observed by entering a room that housed an example of the Water Integrator. The calculator it worked by measuring the water level in various tanksand this was how the results of mathematical operations could be represented. By adjusting the tapsthe mathematical variables were altered, and the result was obtained by observing the level of the fluid in the tubes. This method, although rudimentary, was incredibly advanced for its time, especially in a context of limited technological resources such as the Soviet Union of the 1930s.

Water Integrator
The Water Integrator.

What was the Water Integrator for?

Lukyanov developed his first “hydraulic computer” to solve a very specific problem related to the construction industry. In this case, Lukyanov’s water calculator was used for perform the necessary calculations with which to prevent concrete cracks. Using the Water Integrator to understand the relationship between material composition, curing process and environmental conditions allowed faster and more precise results to be obtained compared to proceeding exclusively with calculations done “by hand”.

Over the years the Water Integrator underwent improvements. In the 1941for example, one was introduced modular versioncapable of solving problems of different nature through, and in the following years they were created two-dimensional and three-dimensional models to be able to use it even for more complex applications.

Among the most significant practical uses, we remember the design of Karakum Channelone of the largest in the world, and the construction of the Baikal-Amur railway line. In the 1950sthese computers were mass-produced with the IGL brand and also distributed in other Soviet bloc countries, such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia And Poland.

For obvious reasons, solutions such as the Water Integrator were replaced by the more modern and functional digital computers even if, surprisingly to say the least, some examples of Water Integrator were still used in the USSR until the 1980s! Today, you can admire two of these at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.