Modified permeability apparatus to determine the permeability of natural building stones

  • PDF / 830,923 Bytes
  • 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
  • 54 Downloads / 188 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


ORIGINAL PAPER

Modified permeability apparatus to determine the permeability of natural building stones Murat Yurdakul 1

Received: 23 February 2015 / Accepted: 22 April 2016 / Published online: 2 June 2016 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2016

Abstract Natural building stones are commonly used for a broad variety of purposes in the construction of many different types of buildings. Knowledge of the permeability of natural building stones, which are widely used in interiors, exteriors, flooring, veneering, landscaping, and walkway laying, is important for correctly determining their lifetime as well as their areas of use. The current study proposes a new test method to determine the air permeability of natural building stones, based on a previously developed method used to assess the permeability values of concrete samples. In this context, the air permeability index values of 96 natural building stone samples, belonging to 16 different types of natural stones classified into five groups, were determined using a new air permeability testing apparatus. The obtained permeability values were compared with the water absorption, open porosity, and apparent density properties of the natural building stones. Strong correlations were identified between the air permeability values of natural building stones and the open porosity and water absorption values. In contrast to other types of tests, the designed apparatus allowed information to be obtained concerning the porosity of natural building stones within a time period as short as 6 h. Based on the obtained results, the air permeability values of the natural building stones were classified into three groups as permeable, semipermeable, and non-permeable. The study results indicated that the air permeability index can be effectively used to measure the air permeability of natural building stones within a short a period of time and by using a simple test apparatus. * Murat Yurdakul [email protected] 1

Department of Technical Programs, Natural Building Stones Technologies Program, Bilecik Seyh Edebali University, 11100 Bozuyuk, Bilecik, Turkey

Keywords Air permeability . Durability . Limestone marbles . Building stones

Introduction Throughout history, and in many societies from ancient to modern ones, natural building stones have been used as functionally and esthetically important materials. In the present day, natural building stones are commonly employed as building materials after being dimensioned and processed through various processing techniques (Shadmon 1997). Although natural building stones are often viewed as symbols of eternity and durability, they may show severe signs of damage and decay during their service life (E.M. Winkler 1997; Blows et al. 2003). Numerous parameters from ambient conditions to stone properties play an important role in determining the decay mechanism of natural stones (Smith and Prikryl 2007; Smith et al. 2008). Regardless of the form in which natural stones are used, an effective diagnosis of usage conditions and the sele