From time to time various fireboat forms have been tested, and the results assembled and correlated by the students as a class project.
Because of the practical gains in speed and economy accomplished by model tests for the Dravo Corporation, continued research has been carried on relative to the most efficient arrangement of barge flotillas. This work proved so successful that river transportation, particularly upstream, has benefited.
An extensive program of tank tests for the Army Transportation Corps on the effect of shoal and restricted water on the speed and resistance of barges and flotillas has been under way during 1950-52. The results are intended to guide government plans for widening and deepening the principal inland waterways for navigation purposes.
In 1947 the new addition to the East Engineering Building was completed, permitting the Department of Electrical Engineering to release the space it had occupied in the West Engineering Building. This space was used for the completion of the north end of the Naval Tank, which was lengthened some sixty feet and fitted with a wave dampening beach. New rails were installed and a false bottom for shoal water work was built. Plans are under way to renew bearings and car wheels, completion of which will modernize the tank.
