Ancient cultural buildings are often exposed to the risk of being damaged by soluble salt crystallization. This physical process can be activated and accelerated in building structures within specific microclimatic intervals for different chemical compounds. Therefore the importance to monitor the microclimatic parameters is widely recognized also for identifying rapidly the conditions that can lead first to an increasing of the process and then to the building damage. In this paper the relationship between microclimate and soluble salt crystallization was studied combining different investigation techniques in the Crypt of the Duomo of Lecce (South Italy). The indoor microclimate was monitored over a one year period with a special focus to the environmental conditions of a particularly damaged area of the church. In the same area the salts efflorescence diffusion was graphically monitored to obtain damage maps over the same period of investigation. This allowed to compare the microclimatic variations with the efflorescence changes with time. Once the indoor conditions have been assessed, a 3 dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation was used to model a number of possible microclimatic scenarios, given by ventilation through the nine windows of the Crypt (Fig.1). The simulations allowed to establish the most suitable microclimatic scenario in a preventive way, allowing to limit the salts crystallization in the structure and preserve the building.
MICROCLIMATIC ASSESSMENT AND MODELING FOR SALT CRYSTALLIZATION CONTROL
D'AGOSTINO, DELIA;CATALDO, Rosella;CONGEDO, Paolo Maria
2012-01-01
Abstract
Ancient cultural buildings are often exposed to the risk of being damaged by soluble salt crystallization. This physical process can be activated and accelerated in building structures within specific microclimatic intervals for different chemical compounds. Therefore the importance to monitor the microclimatic parameters is widely recognized also for identifying rapidly the conditions that can lead first to an increasing of the process and then to the building damage. In this paper the relationship between microclimate and soluble salt crystallization was studied combining different investigation techniques in the Crypt of the Duomo of Lecce (South Italy). The indoor microclimate was monitored over a one year period with a special focus to the environmental conditions of a particularly damaged area of the church. In the same area the salts efflorescence diffusion was graphically monitored to obtain damage maps over the same period of investigation. This allowed to compare the microclimatic variations with the efflorescence changes with time. Once the indoor conditions have been assessed, a 3 dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation was used to model a number of possible microclimatic scenarios, given by ventilation through the nine windows of the Crypt (Fig.1). The simulations allowed to establish the most suitable microclimatic scenario in a preventive way, allowing to limit the salts crystallization in the structure and preserve the building.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
