Comparison of design formulas for torsion based catapults

Kasper Mayntz Paasch, Alexander Petersen Paasch

Abstract

This paper analyzes the design of ancient catapults and compares the two known design formulas for Greek catapults, based on a standardized design for Hellenistic torsion-based catapults. It is hypothesized that, as both formulas, one for an arrow shooting catapult and one for a stone thrower, were considered to give the optimum design regarding performance, that both express the same optimal design. This could be used to determine the length/width of catapult arrows for optimally designed catapults, where no catapult arrow parts so far are known to have been discovered. In order to investigate this, a set of catapult point data, known from literature, were analyzed and a mathematical model developed.

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IMEKO-MetroArchaeo-2023-039.pdf

DOI

10.21014/tc4-ARC-2023.039

IMEKO TC

TC4 - Measurement of Electrical Quantities

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