Deterioration of Sandstone in the Historical and Contemporary Sea Walls upon the Impact of the Natural and Man-Made Hazards

Rina (Irena) Wasserman

doi:10.3390/app11156892

Abstract

The contemporary sea walls built in the pedestrian seashore zone in the City of Acre, Israel, were sided with porous calcarenite sandstone, so-called ‘kurkar’. Kurkar stone has been broadly used as a durable building material in Acre and Jaffa, the Eastern Mediterranean offshore cities, since ancient times. Therefore, the contemporary urban architectural plans obligate kurkar siding in the modern structures erected beside the Old City of Acre. However, a rapid deterioration of kurkar siding had occurred in the contemporary sea walls during only a few years. In contrast, the Historic walls built of kurkar dimensional stone have been still sound. The current study has evaluated the factors and causes of kurkar deterioration in the modern seawalls. It was revealed that the main reason for deterioration was adhering the kurkar siding with cement mortar and the next exposure of adhered siding to the humid and salt-enriched offshore environment with high air pollution.

Highlights

Kurkar was used to siding the contemporary concrete sea walls erected in the Panorama offshore promenade
The same kurkar sandstone has been used in the contemporary sea walls, not in the dimensional thick blocks, but as thin siding plates
Portland cement mortars and concretes are widely used in contemporary structures to protect the steel reinforcement and fixing elements from corrosion

Summary

Introduction

Kurkar was used to siding the contemporary concrete sea walls erected in the Panorama offshore promenade The Panorama was designed in 2002 as a sequence of the historic sea walls of Acre and has been used as an offshore pedestrian promenade since 2005.) in Acre, Israel (Figure 1). Kurkar siding plates were adhered with Portland cement mortar to the concrete walls. This local stone has always had a reputation of durable building material. The contemporary urban architectural plans in the modern City of Acre obligate kurkar siding in the contemporary structures erected beside Acre’s Old City

Results

Discussion

Conclusion