Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Hydraulic hammer: new methods for the study of an archaeological object

Résumé

The hydraulic hammer has been used as a production tool since the early 12th century. It has undergone various changes, particularly in terms of water supplies, the method of arm actuation and the head’s weight. 16th century technical literature provides relatively accurate descriptions of this object. Archaeologically, several of these tools have been excavated across Europe. Archaeometric researches have primarily concentrated on the iron production with such a hammerrather than the tool itself. A new approach of the hydraulic hammer is proposed, based on modern remains and excavations recently carried out in the Pyrenees on a 19th-century forge. This approach aims to define the hammer's water requirements and working capacity, using both modelling and in situ experimentation. Water power is an essential resource for forging and the conditions under which it is used, such as the available head and flow rate, are an essential criterion in choosing a steelmaking site. Hydraulic resources limit the size of the drop hammer and a quantitative approach to this system allows a better assessment of this constraint. A model of the drive mechanism, based on the equations of solid mechanics, calculates the minimum flow required, which is then compared with the available hydraulic power. Excavations of hydraulic forges in the Pyrenees provide many of the parameters required for modelling, but some of the data relating to the design of the hammer remain purely hypothetical. Modelling makes it possible to assess these hypotheses with the criterion of hydraulic power. The hydraulic hammer's working capacity is determined by both the power developed at the hammer head and the force at the time of impact on the iron. To quantify these values, we conducted experimental measurements on an active hydraulic hammer (https://www.forges-de-pyrene.com/). An accelerometer was attached to the hammer's head for this purpose. The processed data were then used to estimate the machine's power. They are also used to define the force at the time of impact. This provides insight into their working capacity and allows comparisons between different types of hydraulic hammers. This study of a hydraulic hammer from the 19th century demonstrate the interest of those new methods for studying mechanisms in an archaeological context. Those methods are applicable to other systems in the Pyrenees or elsewhere and for other periods. The ultimate aim is to integrate these studies into an overall model describing the production system.

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Dates et versions

hal-04639518 , version 1 (09-07-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04639518 , version 1

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Christophe Ars, Florence Maqueda, Florian Téreygeol. Hydraulic hammer: new methods for the study of an archaeological object. Archaeometallurgy in Europe 2024, Jun 2024, Falun, Sweden. ⟨hal-04639518⟩
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