The Design Of Roman Aqueducts - amazonia.fiocruz.br

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The Barbegal watermills in southern France are a unique complex dating back to the 2nd century AD. The construction with 16 waterwheels is, as far as is known, the first attempt in Europe to build a machine complex on an industrial scale. The complex was created when the Roman Empire was at the height of its power. However, little is known about technological advances, particularly in the field of hydraulics, and the spread of knowledge at the time.

A team of scientists led by Professor Cees Passchier from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz JGU has now gained new knowledge about the construction and principle of the water supply to the mills in Barbegal.

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The research results were published in Scientific Reports. Watermills were one of the first sources of energy that did not depend link the muscle strength of humans or animals.

In the Roman Empire they were used to make flour and sawing stone and wood. As one of the first industrial complexes in European history, the Barbegal watermills are an outstanding example of the development at that time.

The mill complex consisted of 16 water wheels in a parallel arrangement of eight wheels each, separated by central buildings and fed by an aqueduct. The upper parts of the complex were destroyed and no traces of the wooden structures have been preserved, which is why the type of mill Off and how they worked remained a mystery for a long time.

However, carbonate deposits that had formed from the flowing water on the wooden components remained. These were stored in the archaeological museum in Arles and only recently examined in detail.

Aqueducts Of The Roman Aqueducts

The researchers found an imprint of an unusual, elbow-shaped flume that must have been part of the mill construction. We were therefore puzzled as to why the flume was designed this way and what it was used for.

At first glance, the team found such a flume unnecessary and even disadvantageous, because it shortens the height from which the water falls onto the mill wheel. The distribution of the carbonate deposits in the elbow-shaped flume shows that it was inclined slightly backwards against the direction of the current. This created a maximum flow rate in the first, steep leg of the flume, and at the same time the water jet to the mill wheel obtained the correct angle and speed.]