Funicular curve

This article is about a curve. For a means of transportation, see Funicular.

[[File:Analogy between an arch and a hanging chain and comparison to the dome of St Peter's Cathedral in Rome.png|thumb|Analogies between the hanging chains and standing structures: an arch and the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome (Giovanni Poleni, 1748) In architecture, the funicular curve (also funicular polygon, funicular shape, from the Template:Lang-la, "of rope") is an approach used to design the compression-only structural forms (like arches) using an equivalence between the rope with hanging weights and standing arch with its load. This duality was noticed by Robert Hooke in 1675 ("as hangs the flexible line, so, but inverted, will stand the rigid arch").

In mechanical engineering, a funicular polygon is a graphic method of finding out the line of action for a combination of forces applied to a solid body at different points, a complement to the force polygon used to obtain the value and direction of the resultant force.

Sources

• Woodman, Francis; Heyman, Jacques (2003). "Masonry". Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t054954. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4.
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford University Press. 1996-01-01. doi:10.1093/acref/9780192830982.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2.
• Escudier, Marcel; Atkins, Tony (2019). A Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198832102.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-883210-2.