Monitoring and preservation of stone cultural heritage using a fuzzy model for predicting salt crystallisation damage

Abstract

In this study, a fuzzy model is presented for predicting the possibility of degradation due to salt crystallisation cycles. The formalization of the proposed model has been based on the multivariable approach which considers environmental data (such as temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, rain quantity, relative humidity), characteristic inflection points of specific salts and stone features derived from laboratory characterizations (including mechanical properties, porosity, and mineralogical composition). Modeling results have been compared with experimental data elaborations acquired by monitoring a semi-confined archaeological site situated in the city of Cagliari (Munatius Irenaus cubicle), revealing substantial alignment in the degradation kinetics trends. Moreover, the achieved outcomes show the remarkable capability to identify salt crystallisation phenomenon type (efflorescence or subflorescence).