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User:Nankai/Aqueduct (bridge)

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Pont du Gard, France, a Roman aqueduct built circa 19 BC. It is one of France's top tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.
Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, Italy, built by Luigi Vanvitelli, it is a World Heritage Site and one of the finest examples of an aqueduct in Europe.

Bridges for conveying water, called aqueducts or water bridges are constructed to convey watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines. The term aqueduct often refers to the entire watercourse as well as the bridge.[1] Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each end. The word is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead").[2]

Ancient bridges for water

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Mathur Aqueduct, India

Although particularly associated with the Romans, bridges for conveying water were used as early as the 7th century BCE, when the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh.[3]

Roman Empire

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Bridges were a distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts which were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they supplied water to public baths and for drinking water. Roman aqueduct bridges set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years.

Ancient Indian aqueduct in Hampi

Sri Lanka

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Extensive usage of elaborate aqueduct bridges have been found to have been used in Ancient Sri Lanka.

Modern bridges for water

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Navigable aqueducts, also called water bridges, are water-filled bridges to allow vessels on a waterway to cross ravines or valleys. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, navigable aqueducts were constructed as part of the boom in canal-building. A notable revolving aqueduct has been made on the Bridgewater Canal. This allowed vessels to cross at high and low levels while conserving water (compared to building locks).

Pipeline bridge

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A modern version of an aqueduct is a pipeline bridge.

Uses

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Segovia, Spain. Roman aqueduct

Notable bridges for conveying water

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Roman aqueducts

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Aqueduct of Segovia
Aqueduct Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico

Other aqueducts

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An Aqueduct in Vila do Conde, Portugal
The Aqueduto dos Pegões in Tomar, Portugal
Kavala aqueduct, Greece
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See also

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Notes

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References

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  • Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae (On the water management of the city of Rome), Translated by R. H. Rodgers, 2003, University of Vermont
  • Aqueduct entry from Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
  • Chanson, H. (2002). Certains Aspects de la Conception hydrauliques des Aqueducs Romains. ('Some Aspect on the Hydraulic Design of Roman Aqueducts.') Journal La Houille Blanche, No. 6/7, pp. 43–57 (ISSN 0018-6368)
  • Chanson, H. (2008). "The Hydraulics of Roman Aqueducts: What do we know? Why should we learn?" in Proceedings of World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008 Ahupua'a, ASCE-EWRI Education, Research and History Symposium, Hawaii, USA, Invited Keynote lecture, 13–16 May, R.W. Badcock Jr and R. Walton Eds., 16 pages (ISBN 978-0-7844-0976-3)
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Category:Water Category:Bridges by mode of traffic Category:Water transport infrastructure Category:Water supply Category:Routes