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The catenary curve is the shape assumed by an idealized hanging chain supported at its ends. It has a U-shape like a parabolic arch but is not actually a parabola. The curve appears in the design of certain types of arches and as the cross-section of a catenoid, the shape assumed by a soap film bounded by two parallel rings. Mathematically, the catenary curve is defined by the hyperbolic cosine function and has properties studied since the 1670s. Catenaries and related curves are used in architecture, bridges, and engineering applications like offshore oil pipelines.

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55 views2 pages

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The catenary curve is the shape assumed by an idealized hanging chain supported at its ends. It has a U-shape like a parabolic arch but is not actually a parabola. The curve appears in the design of certain types of arches and as the cross-section of a catenoid, the shape assumed by a soap film bounded by two parallel rings. Mathematically, the catenary curve is defined by the hyperbolic cosine function and has properties studied since the 1670s. Catenaries and related curves are used in architecture, bridges, and engineering applications like offshore oil pipelines.

Uploaded by

Jack Swagger
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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In physics and geometry, a catenary (US: /ˈkætənɛri/, UK: /kəˈtiːnəri/) is the curve that an

idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends.

The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabolic arch,
but it is not a parabola.

The curve appears in the design of certain types of arches and as a cross section of the
catenoid—the shape assumed by a soap film bounded by two parallel circular rings.

The catenary is also called the alysoid, chainette,[1] or, particularly in the materials sciences,
funicular.[2] Rope statics describes catenaries in a classic statics problem involving a hanging
rope.[3]

Mathematically, the catenary curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function. The surface of
revolution of the catenary curve, the catenoid, is a minimal surface, specifically a minimal
surface of revolution. A hanging chain will assume a shape of least potential energy which is a
catenary.[4] The mathematical properties of the catenary curve were first studied by Robert
Hooke in the 1670s, and its equation was derived by Leibniz, Huygens and Johann Bernoulli in
1691.

Catenaries and related curves are used in architecture and engineering (e.g., in the design of
bridges and arches so that forces do not result in bending moments). In the offshore oil and gas
industry, "catenary" refers to a steel catenary riser, a pipeline suspended between a production
platform and the seabed that adopts an approximate catenary shape. In the rail industry it refers
to the overhead wiring that transfers power to trains. (This often supports a lighter contact wire,
in which case it does not follow a true catenary curve.)

In optics and electromagnetics, the hyperbolic cosine and sine functions are basic solutions to
Maxwell's equations.[5] The symmetric modes consisting of two evanescent waves would form a
catenary shape.[6][7][8]

The word "catenary" is derived from the Latin word catēna, which means "chain". The English
word "catenary" is usually attributed to Thomas Jefferson,[9][10] who wrote in a letter to Thomas
Paine on the construction of an arch for a bridge:

I have lately received from Italy a treatise on the equilibrium of arches, by the Abbé Mascheroni.
It appears to be a very scientifical work. I have not yet had time to engage in it; but I find that the
conclusions of his demonstrations are, that every part of the catenary is in perfect equilibrium.[11]

It is often said[12] that Galileo thought the curve of a hanging chain was parabolic. In his Two
New Sciences (1638), Galileo says that a hanging cord is an approximate parabola, and he
correctly observes that this approximation improves as the curvature gets smaller and is almost
exact when the elevation is less than 45°.[13] That the curve followed by a chain is not a parabola
was proven by Joachim Jungius (1587–1657); this result was published posthumously in
1669.[12]
The application of the catenary to the construction of arches is attributed to Robert Hooke, whose
"true mathematical and mechanical form" in the context of the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral
alluded to a catenary.[14] Some much older arches approximate catenaries, an example of which
is the Arch of Taq-i Kisra in Ctesiphon.[15]

In 1671, Hooke announced to the Royal Society that he had solved the problem of the optimal
shape of an arch, and in 1675 published an encrypted solution as a Latin anagram[16] in an
appendix to his Description of Helioscopes,[17] where he wrote that he had found "a true
mathematical and mechanical form of all manner of Arches for Building." He did not publish the
solution to this anagram[18] in his lifetime, but in 1705 his executor provided it as ut pendet
continuum flexile, sic stabit contiguum rigidum inversum, meaning "As hangs a flexible cable so,
inverted, stand the touching pieces of an arch."

In 1691, Gottfried Leibniz, Christiaan Huygens, and Johann Bernoulli derived the equation in
response to a challenge by Jakob Bernoulli;[12] their solutions were published in the Acta
Eruditorum for June 1691.[19][20] David Gregory wrote a treatise on the catenary in 1697[12][21] in
which he provided an incorrect derivation of the correct differential equation.[20]

Euler proved in 1744 that the catenary is the curve which, when rotated about the x-axis, gives
the surface of minimum surface area (the catenoid) for the given bounding circles.[1] Nicolas
Fuss gave equations describing the equilibrium of a chain under any force in 1796.[22]

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