The valens aqueduct of constantinople: hydrology and hydraulics

Abstract

A hydrological and hydraulic engineering analysis has been carried out on the Valens aqueduct system constructed from around AD 345 and serving Constantinople. A GIS analysis of previous field observations combined with a digital elevation model confirmed the aqueduct’s likely route and slope. Macrophysical Climate Modelling revealed that contemporary weather data was an appropriate proxy for the time of the aqueduct’s construction, and modern flow data was obtained for some of the springs that fed the aqueduct. Existing, previously documented remains, especially at intakes, were considered, and the industry standard software HEC–RAS was used to simulate the performance of the aqueduct system with a view to understanding the amount of water it could have delivered to the city, the seasonal variation in supply and the most likely configuration of the aqueduct, where this was not clear from existing archaeology. It was concluded that the most likely configuration for the aqueduct system was a fourth and a fifth century channel continuing separately and in parallel to the city walls, which might have delivered flow the range of 0.73 m3/s in the driest month of October to 1.73 m3/s in the wettest month of March over an average year.

Hydraulic engineering analysis of Roman water infrastructure: a review of practice and possibilities

“…The capacity of similar hydraulic analysis to shed insight on Roman water engineering design practice has been made clear, in particular by Ortloff's CFD work on Ephesus (Ortloff et al 2001) and Petra (Ortloff 2014), by Haut et al (2007) on Apamea and by Motta et al (2017) on Rome's Aqua Anio Novus, and on specific issues of system configuration, as demonstrated by work on Constantinople (Crapper 2020) and Pompeii (Monteleone et al 2021). These approaches are commended where there is sufficient physical evidence on which to base them.…”

“…Whilst this research demonstrated the usefulness of river modelling software to simulate open channel flow in Roman aqueducts, the input data was so simple that the conclusions could offer only limited insight. Recently, however, the work has been extended by Ruggeri (2018) and Crapper (2020) to include consideration of the water available in the catchment, the intake configuration and seasonal variations, resulting in estimates of the flow reaching the city of Constantinople on a month-by-month basis, and insight into questions that archaeology alone has not been able to answer regarding the configuration of the fourth-and fifth-century aqueduct channels close to the city.…”

‘Still waters run deep’: cisterns and the hydraulic infrastructure of Constantinople and Alexandria

“…2; another possible open cistern is tentatively identified with the cistern Modestiana at Saraçhane, Crow et alii 2008, 127. 30 Crow et alii 2008, 15; for the long distance channels see now Ruggeri 2018;Crapper (Forthcoming), and Crow (Forthcoming) for the bridges.…”