Roman Aqueduct Research Paper

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A Roman Aqueduct is an architectural device used to transport large amounts of water from a higher source to a lower city, using only the force of gravity (and occasionally some hydrodynamics). While there are certain portions of an Aqueduct that may have had a grand architectural bridge for the conduit to rest upon, most of an Aqueduct would be submerged below ground, typically ½ to 1 meters, so as to conserve the downward momentum in the case of a hilly blockage, and to prevent easy thievery of water. Shafts would be dug vertically, at around 70 meters apart from each other, and then the conduit would be dug in between each shaft. The Romans would use a device called a chorobates, which was a wooden frame with a water level inside, to make sure that they were digging at the correct downward angle. A “crane” would then be used to lower slabs through the shafts in order to cover the interior of the conduit. The slabs could be made out of stone, bricks, ashlar, or Roman concrete. …show more content…

The bridge would be made out of a series of layers of arches, rather than being a solid wall, so as to lessen the amount of materials used while still maintaining an equal strength. The conduit bridge would be constructed using wooden scaffolding, out of the same materials as the submerged conduit. The arches of the Aqueduct would be constructed by using a wooden “centering” device, which would be placed where one wanted the arch to go, and the stones of the arch would be placed around the device, and once the keystone was added, the device could be removed and another arch could be

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