24 Dec 2019
Catenary chain study and modelling
Faculty Incharge: Asst. Prof. Sriviji Nachimuthu
Faculty Co-ordinators: Asst.Prof. Yashaswini Nagesh and Asst.Prof. Sneha Murthy
Semester: 1st semester, School of Architecture
Venue: Studio 125, School or Architecture, REVA University
Dates: 24th December, 2019
Number of Students: 70
School of Architecture, REVA University conducted a one Day Workshop for first semester students on Catenary arch design and modeling, as a part of the curriculum
Right from the period of Classic Greek and Roman Architecture, Arch have been a major component in the design. Though lintel and post system were in use from the time of Stonehenge, the limitation was in spanning large area. In masonry construction, arches have several great advantages over horizontal beams, or lintels. They can span much wider openings because they can be made from small, easily carried blocks of brick or stone, as opposed to a massive, monolithic stone lintel.
A catenary arch is a type of architectural arch that follows an inverted catenary curve. (chain hanging in gravity). The tension forces on a hanging chain are assumed as compression force in a catenary arch. They are excellent in carrying self weight and extra loads on top.
This workshop helped students to understand the concept of catenary arch, load transfer through the arch also about the importance of ‘Line of Thrust’ in an arch system. Students also learned to do the hanging chain study to arrive at the catenary curve suitable for the given span and rise. The workshop ended with students making a scaled model of the arch using erasers as voussoirs and thermacol formwork.
We would like to thank our management and our Director, School of Architecture, Dr. Vimala Swamy, for being a support for conducting the workshop.
