aqueduct ,Segovia ,Spain

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Aqueduct

Segovia in SpainMost impressive roman structure in Segovia , Spain because of its long span , beautiful arches and dramatic presence in the centre of a dense , urban fabric.

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Water is heavy stuff. It weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon.

The Romans needed a structure strong enough to hold all that water to move it from the mountains into the city.

How does an aqueduct work?

water channel •The water flowed in a tube on the top of the aqueduct called a water channel. The arches supported the water channel.•Arches, were built around wooden frames. The frames were removed upon completion.

The keystone exerts a force on the adjacent stones so that this one stone at the top held the entire arch together. Thus, it is the key to the structure.

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The water was transported in concrete tunnels. The tunnels were underground if possible. Sometimes the tunnel had to go above ground. Tunnels could be build with a shaft. This shaft allowed them to take out dirt and lower supplies to the workers.

tunnel

shaft

Gravity made the water flow.

Roman engineers had to construct the aqueduct so the water would flow.

The aqueduct was build to slope down at a .025 meters per kilometer

Comparing roman system to modern times

How does it work ?

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Introduction •In case of long structures there is nothing as massive as a bridge and Romans were the pioneers in construction of bridges and aqueducts for transportation of water.

•Segovia aqueduct was built in second half of 1st century under the roman emperor Trajan . The architect is yet unknown.•Technical details•Latitude - 40.947927 * N Longitude – 4.117794 *W

•Total length / Span – 813 m

•Height - 28 m Foundation depth – 6m

•width of arches – 5.1 m

•Built in 2 levels - top level pillars are both narrower and shorter than those on lower level.

•Top level pillar – 1.8*2.5 m , Bottom pillar - 2.4*3 m

•Top of the structure contains water channel through which water flows . – 0.55* 0.46 m

•Material - 24000 guadarrama granite blocks unmortared. Top is brick lined channel.

Top level

Bottom level

View of aqueduct going along the road

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Detail showing holes used to carry or lift rocks up with calipers.

•Voussoir arches is a prominent feature of this aqueduct.

Loads acting

•Live load – in longitudinal direction no live load is considered but in transverse direction 25% of design live load without impact is considered.

•Some portion of pier surrounded with water is assumed to vibrate ,hence considered attached with the pier for dynamic Load.

Water channel at top level in the aqueduct

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The channel was lined with concrete. The Romans invented concrete.

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Sourceshttp://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/10-roman-

engineering-tricks.htm  

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29209-what-the-ancients-knew-roman-architecture-

video.htm 

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/11/roman-history-comes-to-life-

in-google.html