Definition of a Protocol for the Experimental Monitoring of Rising Damp in Three Different Masonry Models with Tuff, Carparo, and Lecce Stone

Paolo Maria Congedo, Cristina Baglivo, Giovanni Quarta, Pasquale Di Gloria and Delia D’Agostino
Additional contact information
Paolo Maria Congedo: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Cristina Baglivo: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Giovanni Quarta: ISPC-CNR (The Institute of Heritage Science), 73100 Lecce, Italy
Pasquale Di Gloria: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Delia D’Agostino: Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, 21027 Ispra, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: This work presents a new protocol for monitoring rising damp, which is applied to three masonry models made of tuff, carparo, and Lecce stone. First, the physical characteristics of each stone were derived in the laboratory, which included porosity, imbibition, drying index, permeability, capillarity, and sorptivity. In this case, the protocol provided three columns, one for each material, consisting of five blocks. A layer of cotton tissue was interposed between columned blocks to simulate the hygroscopic behavior of a mortar, allowing a quick disassembly and reassembly of the multiblock columns for a quick weighing. The bottoms of the columns were immersed in water to a level of about three centimeters, providing a constant replenishment for the phenomena of evaporation and rising in the stone. The maximum height achieved by the rising damp depends on the characteristics of the building materials, i.e., the amount and size of pores, pore connectivity, etc. Since these materials have different physical characteristics, the objective was to quantify the rising moisture level of the three materials tested, block by block, in a controlled indoor microclimate environment. The three columns were periodically weighed, the quantity of collected water was evaluated, and a thermographic survey was performed. The results show that at the end of the test, the highest level of rising damp is reached by tuff with a height of 43 cm, followed by Lecce stone and carparo with a height of 40 cm and 21 cm, respectively. The innovation of this study is the proposal of a new flexible and easy-to-apply method for monitoring this phenomenon. It gives clear and numerically comparable results. Moreover, it is applicable to any type of stone, allowing the user to evaluate both the existing state and different design solutions.

Keywords: rising damp; building stones; thermography; moisture; carparo; tuff; Lecce stone; experimental data; capillarity; evaporation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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