From the quarry to the building: Pathologies, chemical and physical decay of building stones materials used in ancient and contemporary architecture

Seminar III – Geological Processes (Doctoral degree on Earth and Space Sciences)

Day – November 26

Hour – 2:30 PM

Link –  https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/85754422622?pwd=V1BuTFBSOVRsRTUxaTFIWFJvcTNUQT09 

Abstract – Building stone materials have to satisfy the requirements of long-term durability in different application environments. A large number of studies and field observations, show that weathering on geo-materials is related to average annual precipitation and temperature. Other decay factors are represented by intrinsic features of the stone (e.g. open porosity, permeability, mineralogical composition). Decay of building stone materials are represented by chemical, physical and biologic alterations, that sometimes represent a danger for the structure up to determining, in the most serious cases, the static load eccentricity. In this web-seminar some case studies about physical and chemical decay on building stone materials will be analysed. A wide number of nondestructive (NDT) testing, together with field observation and building 2D / 3D mapping allow to us to recognize and evaluated causes and types of weathering. Some climatic simulation realized in laboratory made it possible to long-term predict the base-principle of stone weathering by macro and micro climate reproductions.

Lecturer – Fabio Sitzia

Current position – Post-doc researcher at Hercules Laboratory, Geosciences Department (University of Evora)

Scientific Interests – Mining geo-resources and mineralogical-petrographic applications for the environment and Cultural Heritage.