The Turn of the Screw: Optimal Design of an Archimedes Screw
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 126, Issue 1
Abstract
The geometry of an Archimedes screw is governed by certain external parameters (its outer radius, length, and slope) and certain internal parameters (its inner radius, number of blades, and the pitch of the blades). The external parameters are usually determined by the location of the screw and how much water is to be lifted. The internal parameters, however, are free to be chosen to optimize the performance of the screw. In this paper the inner radius and pitch that maximize the volume of water lifted in one turn of the screw are found. The optimal parameter values found are compared with the values used in a screw described by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius in the first century B.C., and with values used in the design of modern Archimedes screws.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Athenaeus of Naucratis. (circa A.D. 200). Deipnosophistae, Book V. Translation by Charles Burton Gulick in Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1928.
2.
Dijksterhuis, E. J. (1938). Archimedes, original Dutch edition published by I. P. Noordhoff, Groningen. English translation by C. Dikshoorn, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1987, 21–23.
3.
Diodorus Siculus (circa first century B.C.). Bibliotheke, i.34.2. Translation by Ivor Thomas in Greek mathematical works, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1941.
4.
Hanselman, D., and Littlefield, B. (1995). The student edition of MATLAB: Version 4: User's guide. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 419–421.
5.
Heath, T. L. (1897). The works of Archimedes, originally published by Cambridge University Press. Republished by Dover, New York, 1953, pages xx–xxi.
6.
Nagel, G. (1968). Archimedean screw pump handbook. Prepared for Ritz-Atro Pumpwerksbau GMBH Roding, Nürnberg, Germany.
7.
Nelder, J. A., and Mead, R. (1965). “A simplex method for function minimization.” Computer J., 7, 308–313.
8.
Vitruvius (circa first century B.C.). De Architectura, Book X, Chapter VI, “The Water Screw.” Translation and diagram by Morris Hicky Morgan in Vitruvius: The ten books on architecture, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1914. Republished by Dover, New York, 1960, 295–297.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 126 • Issue 1 • January 2000
Pages: 72 - 80
History
Received: Feb 19, 1998
Published online: Jan 1, 2000
Published in print: Jan 2000
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.