Physical weathering of building stones induced by freeze–thaw action: a laboratory long-term study

Abstract

Damages to natural building stones induced by the action of frost are considered to be of great importance. Commonly, the frost resistance of building stones is checked by standardised freeze-thaw tests before using. Corresponding tests normally involve 30-50 freeze-thaw action cycles. In order to verify the significance of such measurements, we performed long-term tests on four selected rocks over 1,400 freeze-thaw action cycles. Additionally, numerous petrophysical parameters were analysed to compare the behaviour of rocks in the weathering tests according to the current explanatory models of stress formation by growing ice crystals in the pore space. The long-term tests yield more information about the real frost sensibility of the rocks. A clear deterioration cannot be determined in most cases until 50 weathering cycles have been completed. In the freeze-thaw tests, the samples are also stressed by changing temperature and moisture, indicating that different decay mechanisms can interfere with each other. Thus, thermohygric and moisture expansion are important damage processes.

Durability Assessment of Clay-Bearing Soft Rocks By Using New Decay Index

“…These observations are consistent with the results of Irfan and Dearman [25]. Water absorption index has both direct and indirect effects on most of the physical properties of clay bearing rocks and is, therefore, considered the most important clay bearing rock parameter [26][27][28]. The calculated values of water absorption of the studied rocks are reported in Table 2.…”

Dolomitic slates from Uruguay: petrophysical and petromechanical characterization and deposit evaluation

“…All these processes can explain the loss of weight in the freeze-thaw experiment. The values determined for all slates studied are very low compared to those measured by Rüdrich et al (2011) for the Habichtswald tuff but similar to those of the Kuaker limestone, Lobejuen porphyry and Knaupsholz granite.…”

Freeze–thaw fracturing in building granites

“…Ingham ( Some authors measured FT-induced decay on the grounds of sample weight loss (Iñigo et al, 2000;Erguler, 2009) or variations in ultrasonic pulse velocity (Matsuoka, 1990;Takarli et al, 2008;Ruedrich, et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2012;Iñigo, et al, 2013). Others developed equations from which to infer microcrack distribution in granites (Sano et al, 1992;Takemura and Oda, 2006;Nara et al, 2011).…”