Mechanical behavior of the imperial carroballista

Abstract

A reconstruction of an artillery piece of the Roman Imperial Army and a mechanical study of the device is presented. The reconstruction is based on some bas reliefs on the Trajan Column and the Aurelian Column and on the investigations of some authors. By means of a mathematical model of the machine, the mechanical behavior of the machine itself and hence the range figures of possible projectiles are computed. The study shows that such a lightweight and cart mounted war machine represented a powerful and effective close support artillery piece for the Roman Imperial Legions. By means of a finite element code the torsion springs constituting the elastic motors of the machine were also analyzed