Manjaro /s
Gothic or parabolic are probably the strongest ones, where each block has the most support. Gothic is easier build as it requires less custom shaped blocks. So my vote is on Gothic.
Strongest is the caternary arch. Its not listed there for some reason. A caternary is the shape of a chain dangling from its two endpoints. Flip that shape and you get an ideal arch (assuming no additional forces)
I'm not an engineer by any stretch, but I imagine it would be the downward force of the weight of the rest of the building on the top-middle of the butt. The resulting pressure would hold the rest in place.
For all the other arch types I'd agree. That draped arch looks like the stones at the middle of each nadir should spit themselves out rather than be held in.
I’m an engineer (not civil though), and yeah it’s the same principle as any other arch. If you look at the block cuts in order for any one to go down it has to push another away from the middle, but at the end of the chain of that it hits the wall.
i remember seeing someone with a piece of paper with all the different windows, roofs, columns, arches, etc in elementary school and i asked where they got it (which was from the teacher for the gifted and talented program), and somehow after asking the teacher (since I wasn't in G&T) I got the architecture paper, and at home I would look at that and see which were my favorites. Unfortunately it's lost now.
btw multifold and gothic are the best
