EFFECT OF VIBRATION AND SALTS ON HERITAGE BUILDING

OVERVIEW
EFFECT OF VIBRATION ON HERITAGE BUILDINGS

 History of earthquakes in India demonstrates vulnerability of our heritage buildings to seismic hazards
 The use ofrocks by Emperor Ashoka (273- 237 BC) as huge monolithic pillars and railings added a new dimension
to the building history of India
 In the construction of such rock-cut structures, knowledge ofthe right selection of the site including the character
of the rocks, which are amenable to a sculptor's chisel and hammer, was vital.
 The world-famous rock-cut temples of Ajanta and Ellora, a treasure-trove of art, were chiseled out ofthe very
resistant Deccan basalt at suitable sites.
STRUCTURAL ASPECTS

 Most of the heritage buildings are made up of masonry of varied kinds, from adobe or rubble joined with
mudllime/surkhi mortars.
 It is written in Indian literature that several kings used blood, pulses, and jaggery as binders and longevity.
However, these heritage buildings seemed to perform badly during past earthquakes.
 The basic reasons has been the intrinsic weaknesses of masonry i.e. its
 great weight and low tensile strength, which is further aggravated by deterioration due to weathering.
 heterogeneity and the significant variations in its quality of masonry among different structural members
 In masonry structures, it is difficult to give continuity to their structural members (among transverse walls and
ofthe walls with the floors and roofs)
 difficulty to form stiff horizontal diaphragms capable of distributing inertia forces to the stiffest and strongest
walls
 REASONS AND RESULTS

 Overturning of the walls due to out-of-plane inertia forces

 Normally, the roofs of heritage buildings are jack arched,

vaulted or dome shaped.
The failure starts with the separation of wall from its
transverse supports, then by its vibration as cantilever of
increasing length.
 If the façades of the forts are not tied well to the rest of the
monument, they tend to get separated, overturn and fell
from the main structure
 Diagonal cracking An example of Clock tower at Jabalpur
whose one minaret fell since it was stiffer
 Also, the heavy and tall tower can become unstable owing than the other minarets due to presence of
to the inertia forces transverse to their plane. stair
SEISMIC REHABILITATION

 It is used as a comprehensive term to include all the concepts of repair, restoring, upgrading, retrofitting and
strengthening that lead to reduce seismic vulnerability of any structure.
 Seismic rehabilitation in its strict sense calls for three kinds of improvement in the structure under consideration
 REPAIR - only visual or cosmetic modifications are made
 RESTORE- structural repairs such as rebuilding of cracked walls, stitching of cracks, grouting, placement of
reinforcement etc. are made such that the original performance of the structure are restored
 RETROFIT- structural modifications such as jacketing, externaI ties, buttresses, addition of shear/infill walls,
bracing & anchorages are made such that a higher performance of the structure is achieved than that of original
structure
  CIRCUIT HOUSE AT JARNNAGAR, WHICH IS A
PRESTIGIOUS LANDMARK STRUCTURE WITH ROMAN
ARCHITECTURE.

CASE STUDY - SEISMIC REHABILITATION OF CIRCUIT HOUSE (LAL

BUNGALOW) AT JAMNAGAR, GUJARAT
 RETROFIT MEASURES IMPLEMENTED

 Controlling the dead weight of the structures by replacing jack

arch floors with RC slabs
 Improving geometry of the structure by introducing framing for
walls, openings and making them compatible with appropriate
stiffness and integral connections
 Several arches over doors and windows were strengthened by
proving steel arches below the existing ones
 Grouting and stitching of cracks
 Jacketing of walls with welded wire mesh, MS fiats and
chicken mesh from both sides
 Comer stiffening of walls with MS flats, lintel bands over
openings.
GROUNDWATER AND SALTS

 High salt concentrations in masonry walls cause extensive FRETTING and CRUMBLING of the lower parts of
walls.
 These are formations gradually contribute to building dilapidation and reduce the building’s aesthetic value.

 There are two types of salt attack that will depend on which building area the salt penetrates.

 When salt penetrates the surface and white powder is formed, this phenomenon is known as EFFLORESCENCE
and is harmless to the masonry (apart from creating an unsightly visual appearance).
 Salt may also attack by penetrating from below the surface; this is a more serious condition as the salt will become
crystallised, a phenomenon known as SUBFLORESCENCE.
 Pressure from the growth of the crystallisation process will cause building materials to crumble, resulting in serious
damage to the buildings
CAUSES

 Salt attack is caused by moisture containing salts

rising up through the capillaries of the brickwork
from the ground below.
 These salts build up in the plaster and on brick
surfaces over a period of time and attract airborne
moisture.
 It is the expansion and contraction of such salts
that causes the familiar rising damp symptoms of
eroding and blistering paint and plaster
 COMMON CAUSES OF SALT ATTACK INCLUDE:

1. Windborne salt spray, if the building is located near a sea

or river.
2. Airborne salt (meteoric).
3. Pollution from nearby factories.
4. Biological factors such as bird droppings, fallen leaves
remaining in blocked gutters, and sewer leakage.
5. Brick clay puddling (salts used in the process leach into
the soil).
6. Unsuitable chemicals used for cleaning.
7. Urine (toilet) and animal blood/butchering (from fish or
meat markets)
TREATMENT -POULTICING

 The process of poulticing, also known as the Cocoon

method, involves the application of a damp absorbent
material (pharmaceutical fibre mixed with distilled
water) that dries out, drawing the salts from the
material.
 After several weeks, the poultice is removed from the
wall surface, taking the salts with it.
 The process is repeated as often as necessary to reduce
the salt concentration to an acceptable level.
CHEMICAL INJECTION

 The injection of a chemical damp-proof course is the

cheapest and easiest way to provide barrier in masonry
walls to prevent rising damp.
 Chemical injection is carried out by drilling into both
sides of the affected walls.
 The drilling is usually carried out at intervals along the
wall at about 6 inches from the floor to a particular
depth (depending on wall thickness).
 A silicone-based chemical is then injected either by
using gravity flow or pumps until it is saturated and
forms a moisture barrier that later prevents any water
or dampness from moving upward in the masonry
walls.
SALT WEATHERING OF 7TH CENTURY CE GRANITE MONUMENT OF SHORE TEMPLE, MAHABALIPURAM – SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION AND CONSERVATION STRATEGY

• The Shore Temple, located in Mahabalipuram (12°36′59″N

80°11′55″E) and attributed to the famous Pallava, who was the ruler
of Narasimhavarman–II (722 CE), is one of the first stone temples in
the South Indian Dravidian style.

• It was built with half of it in the sea and a half of it on land in the
7th–8th century CE [28]

 Alveolarization (honeycomb weathering) is a type of weathering of rocks and stones that is also known as stone
lattice, stone lace, and fretting or alveolar weathering
 At Shore Temple, the side exposed directly to the sea was damaged to such
an extent that sculptures were obliterated beyond recognition.

 The sculptures of the northern and the western sides

were also damaged, but the profile remained.

 The extensive erosion observed on the upper part of the temple—about

two meters from ground level—was probably due to the striking high-
velocity winds.

 The loss of stone materials occurred in two ways.

 Firstly, morphological changes of the stone types due to partial/selective

weathering, called relief, were noticed.

 This consisted of severe pitting on the stone surface due to the action of
wind.

 In some places, alteration of gloss due to corrosion or

loss of small stone particles from the stone surface was also observed.
 As the temple was constructed in
granitic stone of different
compositions and textures, the rate of
deterioration was not the same in
different stone blocks.

 The main weathering patterns

observed were the
1. color alteration,
2. loss of cohesion, disaggregation,
and
3. detachment of the surface layer
 CONSERVATION TREATMENT

 It was also observed that cellulose-based poultices

were able to remove about 70% of salts in the
humid environment of Mahabalipuram.
 Complete removal is rather difficult. Moreover,
replenishment of the salts on the stone surface
occurred due to sea sprays.
 Six to eight applications of paper pulp were carried
out to achieve the desired results.
 The effectiveness of this treatment was also tested
by carrying out conductivity measurements of the
aqueous extract of the paper pulp
MICHELANGELO'S FRESCOS AND GEOTHERMAL DRILLING

 This damage caused by salt is not seen only on historic buildings.

 It is also a problem for wall paintings, such as Michelangelo's frescos inside the Sistine Chapel in the
Vatican, says Caruso.
 These can be damaged by salt efflorescence in the stonework or the paint layers or in between.
 REFERENCE

 KM_C554e-20151214111640 (uminho.pt)
 Treatment of Salt Attack and Rising Damp on Heritage Buildings in Malaysia (core.ac.uk)

 37210901 K.SRI CHAANTHANA