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Roman Aqueducts

What were your sources of information?

Aicher, P. (1995). Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome. Wauconda : Bolchazy- Carducci Publishers.

Forbes, R. (1885). Roman aqueducts & fountains. Babuino: Google Ebook.

Hodge, A. T. (1992). Roman aqueducts & water supply. London: Duckworth.

Richards, J. (2004). Canals and aqueducts. North Mankato, Minn.: Smart Apple Media.

What did you set out to construct or do?

Pont du Gard

  • Goal was to build a replica of the Pont du Gard aqueduct
  • As the Roman Empire grew, aqueducts played a more and more important role. This was fascinating to us.

What would we do differently if we did it again?

Is there anything else you learned or wanted to mention?

Demonstration

  • Mix the clay better, when the structure was built (which was built modularly)
  • The joints were only partially mixed which resulted in a fragile structure and frail joints

  • Construct the aqueduct out of solid material. For example using Legos

  • To perfect the internal structural strength of the aqueduct, metal skewers could have been used in replacement of the wooden skewers

  • The time invested into constructing a small scale aqueduct took a great amount of time

  • With all the complications that came with constructing the small scale; the amount of engineering and workmanship to solve these problems on a much larger scale is fascinating especially with the lack of the technology

What problems we ran into and what workaround did we employ?

  • The whole system depended on the use of gravity to maintain a continuous flow, because the engineering techniques of those days were remarkable.

Problem #1

Problem #3

Problem #4

Problem #2

  • Once the aqueduct was built the channel was constructed to transport the water
  • The clay lost its form under the weight

  • It lost its form even further after the 2nd and 3rd levels were built
  • The correct angle of the channel was crucial to ensure the optimum velocity for the water to travel
  • After the clay dried, the joints were detached due to improper construction

  • As the clay dried it shrank. This resulted in cracking of the structure at the points of high stress

  • This put too much weight on wooden skewers making the aqueduct unable to stand on its own

  • The first slope test was executed and it was seen that even though the clay was dry it was still absorbent

  • The clay used is made of extremely small particles, and a very high surface area, thus giving it a large capacity to absorb water

  • This problem was solved by adding saran wrap to the top, allowing water to flow nicely.

  • The Romans would have used lime plaster or concrete.

Solution

  • A level was used to attain the correct slope
  • Clay was added underneath the channel as needed to raise it to the correct angle
  • To achieve the right slope the Romans would have used a water-table.

The final issue faced was hunger.

This was remedied by delicious McDonald’s and a big mac.

  • Structural integrity was provided by the use of skewers

  • Even further integrity was provided by clumping more clay
  • This issue was fixed by filling all the cracks with a spackling compound

  • This filled all the small holes and cracks, and dried quickly for fast repairs

  • Moreover, for better support four metal brackets were added to the bottom for more reliability and stronger support

Final Problem

Solution

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