engineering

J. Augustine DeSazilly

J. Augustine DeSazilly is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand J. Augustine DeSazilly rather than just read about it. In short: J. Augustine DeSazilly (fl. mid-19th century) was a French engineer.

Key takeaways

J. Augustine DeSazilly belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect J. Augustine DeSazilly to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of J. Augustine DeSazilly from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

J. Augustine DeSazilly (fl. mid-19th century) was a French engineer. In the early 1850s, DeSazilly published a paper postulating the "profile of equal resistance," a major theoretical advance in the technology of masonry gravity dams, based on the hydrostatic force exerted by a given height of water in relation to the weight of masonry used in the dam's construction (estimated at 150 pounds per cubic foot). DeSazilly considered two extreme conditions, a filled reservoir and an empty reservoir, and created a model for equalizing stresses on the masonry across every horizontal cross section. He developed a vertical cross section in which the stresses at the upstream face of a masonry gravity dam with the reservoir empty are equal to those at the downstream face with the reservoir filled. His hypothesis provided a means of calculating the minimum amount of material that could be used while assuring stability. Although he himself never carried out the construction of a dam on this "profile of equal resistance," it was used in 1858 to build the Furens Dam across the river Loire. DeSazilly also developed a process of surface drainage for building on a slope, and contributed to the building of railways, roads, and bridges.

References

External links A diagram of DeSazilly's "profile of equal resistance" may be viewed in The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction (Government Printing Office, 2005), p. 52 online.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with J. Augustine DeSazilly

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what J. Augustine DeSazilly claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to J. Augustine DeSazilly before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about J. Augustine DeSazilly ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of J. Augustine DeSazilly

In research: J. Augustine DeSazilly appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses J. Augustine DeSazilly in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: J. Augustine DeSazilly is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 19th-century French people, French civil engineers, Hydraulic engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for J. Augustine DeSazilly outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study J. Augustine DeSazilly in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what J. Augustine DeSazilly means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain J. Augustine DeSazilly out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is J. Augustine DeSazilly in simple terms?

J. Augustine DeSazilly (fl. mid-19th century) was a French engineer.

Why does J. Augustine DeSazilly matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study J. Augustine DeSazilly?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on J. Augustine DeSazilly.