For centuries, artillery has reshaped warfare. From the thunder of early bombards at battles such as Crécy and Pavia to the firepower of World War I and the increasingly mobile systems of the Cold War, advances in artillery design have repeatedly transformed the battlefield.
Behind this battlefield influence lies a demanding engineering problem. Artillery systems must contain extremely high pressures, manage significant recoil forces, and maintain accuracy under severe mechanical stress. Meeting these requirements drove continuous innovation in metallurgy, machining, and mechanical design across centuries of technological development.
This research approaches artillery history through experimental reconstruction. Using modern manufacturing techniques, replicas of key components from systems ranging from American Civil War–era cannons to the Cold War–era D-30 howitzer were designed and fabricated. Recreating these components provides a practical framework for examining how engineers of different periods addressed challenges of strength, stability, and manufacturability. By combining historical analysis with contemporary fabrication methods, this work demonstrates how modern engineering tools can illuminate the design processes and technical constraints that shaped some of history’s most influential artillery systems.
Acknowledgements: I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Student Research Grant (SRG) Committee for their continued support of this work through multiple Student Research Grants. Their commitment to supporting undergraduate research made it possible to pursue this project and expand it over several stages of development.
I am also deeply grateful to Dean Ram for allocating dean's office funding for the cannon project. This support provided the resources necessary to complete the fabrication of the cannon carriage.
Special thanks are owed to Professor Bill Keat for advising my scholars project on Civil War artillery, which ultimately served as the foundation for the broader research presented here. His guidance during the early stages of the project helped shape both the technical direction and historical scope of the work. I am also grateful to Mark Walker for providing valuable reading materials that helped inform the historical background of this research.
I would like to thank Rob and Paul in the machine shop for their generous support throughout this project. They spent many hours reviewing designs, discussing machining approaches, and offering practical advice during fabrication. Their willingness to share materials from the shop and Paul's contribution of a trailer jack were also instrumental in enabling the construction and testing of several components.
Finally, I would like to thank Professor Ron Bucinell for his mentorship and continued support throughout the development of the D-30 howitzer carriage reconstruction. This component of the project represents one of the most complex and ambitious engineering efforts I have undertaken, and his advice and willingness to engage with the project have been invaluable to its success so far.
I feel lucky to have mentors such as Professors Keat and Bucinell, whose support, encouragement, and high standards have continuously pushed me to grow as an engineer and problem solver.