Influence of the Freeze-Thaw Cycles on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Granites

AbstractStone masonry buildings provide evidence of the cultural and historical values at the time. Therefore, it is important to preserve the stone of these buildings to harmful environment conditions like freeze-thaw and salt crystallization cycles, air pollution, and excessive and frequent rain or snowfall, which can lead to decay processes that endanger the future of architectural heritage. Thus, it is important to understand how environmental actions act on the physical and mechanical properties of building stones. In Portugal, the most used building stone, particularly in the north region, is granite, both in the vernacular and historical buildings. Therefore, this research aims at evaluating the performance of different types of granite, characteristic of the northeastern region of Portugal to the action of freeze-thaw cycles, for which this environmental action is relevant, given the wide temperature range and the possibility of occurrence of negative temperatures. Frost resistance is important fo...

[1]  D. H. Everett.  The thermodynamics of frost damage to porous solids , 1961 .

[2]  I. Iliev.  An Attempt to Estimate the Degree of Weathering of Intrusive Rocks From Their Physico-mechanical Properties , 1966 .

[3]  N. Matsuoka,et al.  Mechanisms of rock breakdown by frost action: An experimental approach , 1990 .

[4]  N. Matsuoka.  A model of the rate of frost shattering: Application to field data from Japan, Svalbard and Antarctica , 1991 .

[5]  S. Chatterji,et al.  Aspects of the freezing process in a porous material–water system: Part 1. Freezing and the properties of water and ice , 1999 .

[6]  Hisham Qasrawi,et al.  Concrete strength by combined nondestructive methods simply and reliably predicted , 2000 .

[7]  S Chatterji,et al.  A discussion of the paper “Crystallisation in pores” by G.W. Scherer , 2000 .

[8]  G. Scherer.  Reply to the discussion by S. Chatterji of the paper, “Crystallization in pores” , 2000 .

[9]  Dawn T. Nicholson,et al.  Pore properties as indicators of breakdown mechanisms in experimentally weathered limestones , 2001 .

[10]  Rafael Fort,et al.  Durability estimation of porous building stones from pore structure and strength , 2004 .

[11]  A. Tugrul,et al.  The effect of weathering on pore geometry and compressive strength of selected rock types from Turkey , 2004 .

[12]  G. Exadaktylos.  Freezing-Thawing Model for Soils and Rocks , 2006 .

[13]  Shengxing Wu,et al.  The characteristics of air void and frost resistance of RCC with fly ash and expansive agent , 2006 .

[14]  S. Kahraman,et al.  The correlations between the saturated and dry P-wave velocity of rocks. , 2007, Ultrasonics.

[15]  P. Lourenço,et al.  Ultrasonic evaluation of the physical and mechanical properties of granites. , 2008, Ultrasonics.

[16]  Yu-pu Song,et al.  Experimental study on strength and deformation of plain concrete under triaxial compression after freeze-thaw cycles , 2008 .

[17]  Cristina Margarida Rodrigues Costa.  Análise numérica e experimental do comportamento estrutural de pontes em arco de alvenaria de pedra , 2009 .

[18]  Iñigo Vegas,et al.  Freeze–thaw resistance of blended cements containing calcined paper sludge , 2009 .

[19]  T. Vymazal,et al.  Freeze-thaw resistance of concrete with porous aggregate , 2010 .

[20]  A. Mufti,et al.  Freeze-Thaw Durability of Anchor Materials in Heritage Masonry Stones , 2010 .

[21]  Jianping Yang,et al.  Laboratory investigations on the mechanical properties degradation of granite under freeze–thaw cycles , 2011 .

[22]  F. Bayram.  Predicting mechanical strength loss of natural stones after freeze–thaw in cold regions , 2012 .

[23]  Miguel Gómez-Heras,et al.  Non-linear decay of building stones during freeze–thaw weathering processes , 2013 .

[24]  X. Brunetaud,et al.  Freezing-thawing action in the deterioration of the stones of Chambord Castle , 2013 .