Related papers: Ancient concrete works
Two books, the "De Architectura" by Vitruvius and the "Naturalis Historia" by Pliny the Elder, give us a portrait of the Materials Science, that is, the knowledge of materials, in Rome at the beginning of the Empire. Here, I am reporting…
This study is based on Roman wooden force pumps. It appears that they were used in small numbers to raise water from wells, and more commonly as portable pumps to fight fires. The force pump is attributed to Ctesibius of Alexandria (fl.…
Arguably the most ubiquitous construction material in modern civilization, concrete is enabling the development of megacities around the globe together with increasing living standards in developing nations. However, it can be argued that…
The paper is proposing a short discussion on the ancient knowledge of Platonic solids, in particular, by Italic people.
An integrated and widespread road system, like the one built during the Roman Empire in Italy, plays an important role today in facilitating the construction of new infrastructure. This paper investigates the historical path of Roman roads…
Roman-era concrete is the iconic embodiment of long-term physicochemical resilience. We investigated the basis of this behavior across scales of observations by coupling time-lapse (4-D) tomographic imaging of macroscopic mechanical…
In this paper I propose a possible use of Roman Dodecahedra, which are bronze artifacts of gallo-roman origin dating from the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, for playing a bowling game. The presence of holes and knobs can be quite important during…
Enhancement of thermal performance of concrete wall is nowadays of great importance in reducing the operational energy demand of buildings. We developed a new kind of inorganic coating material based on \ce{SiO2}-\ce{Al2O3}-rich minerals…
Fire is a process that generates both light and heat, posing a significant threat to life and infrastructure. Buildings and structures are neither inherently susceptible to fire nor completely fire-resistant; their vulnerability largely…
We give some concrete constructions of real equiangular line sets. The emphasis here is on {\em building blocks} for certain angles which are then used to build up larger equiangular line sets. We concentrate on angles greater than or equal…
Ultra high performance concretes (UHPCs) are cementitious composite materials with high level of perfor- mance characterized by high compressive strength, high tensile strength and superior durability, reached by low water-to-binder ratio,…
Throughout human history, people have used sight to learn about the world, but only in relatively recent times the science of light has been developed. Egyptians and Mesopotamians made the first known lenses out of quartz, giving birth to…
Here I am discussing a possible use of a Roman Dodecahedron, a bronze artifact of gallo-roman origin, for measuring distance. A dodecahedron, found at Jublains, the ancient Nouiodunum, dating from the 2nd or 3rd century AD, is used to…
Known as the Michanikos, Hero of Alexandria is considered the inventor of the world's first steam engine and of many other sophisticated devices. Here we discuss three of them as described in his book "Pneumatica". These machines, working…
An ancient engineering firm worked successfully in the construction of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The engineers used inclined planes, bags of sand and shafts of columns and architraves as wheels and axels.
Cement is one of the most produced materials in the world. A major player in greenhouse gas emissions, it is the main binding agent in concrete, to which it provides a cohesive strength that rapidly increases during setting. Understanding…
The method of application of areas as presented in Euclid's Elements, is employed to generate the three conics as the loci of points with Cartesian coordinates satisfying quadratic equations with coefficients defined by the initial settings…
Petrus Peregrinus of Maricourt, a 13th-century French scholar and engineer, wrote what we can consider as the first extant treatise on magnetism of Europe. This treatise is in the form of a letter, probably composed during the siege of…
We investigate two-dimensional, periodic ornaments of the Late Hellenistic (some centuries before the Common Era, the Classical Period) and Early Roman (Common Era) classical periods found at different locations in Asia Minor in Turkey and…
The present work is a translation from french to english of our previous \g{D\'emocrite et la puissance motrice du feu}, amended on a number of respects. It is mainly of historical and pedagogical interest. We suggest that the concepts…