Roman aqueducts: inverted siphons revisited

[guy]

 

Roman anqueduct engineering was very advanced. There was a previous post about the use of “inverted siphons” to push water uphill (see below).

Roman engineers came up with clever ways to move water across uneven terrains. One of their smartest inventions was the inverted siphon—a pressurized pipe system that let aqueducts cross deep valleys without needing huge, sky‑high bridges.

It’s not a siphon the way we use the word today. Instead of using air pressure, it works like a sealed pipe that uses gravity and water pressure.

Water drops from the aqueduct into a small tank (castellum), then rushes downhill through pipes into the valley, where the pressure becomes strong enough to push the water back up the far side so it can rejoin the aqueduct and keep flowing across uneven ground.

 

 

Here is a short video that also discusses the use of inverted siphons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

There are dozens of articles and YouTube presentations about aqueducts and "inverted siphons," all authored by people who apparently weren't paying attention in grammar school science class....Water seeks it's own level. It flows down hill, and given a pathway, will flow back up to the level from whence it came...No need for amazing engineering tricks to build an aqueduct. They just had to make sure the destination was lower than the source and no point along the way was higher than the source.....Roller coasters are designed with the same science in mind. (Lagrangian Mechanics))

BTW-- plumbers need only know three things to be successful in their trade: (1) Water flows downhill. (2) Payday is Friday, and (3) Don't chew your fingernails.