Heritage (Oct 2022)

Microclimate and Weathering in Cultural Heritage: Design of a Monitoring Apparatus for Field Exposure Tests

  • Luigi Germinario,
  • Chiara Coletti,
  • Giampaolo Girardi,
  • Lara Maritan,
  • Nicola Praticelli,
  • Raffaele Sassi,
  • Jørgen Solstad,
  • Claudio Mazzoli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage5040165
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 4
pp. 3211 – 3219

Abstract

Read online

An innovative experimental method for the long-term monitoring of outdoor microclimate and material decay at cultural heritage sites was developed to aid the formulation of new damage functions and models for climate-change risk assessment. To that end, an apparatus for field exposure tests was designed to monitor a variety of historical building materials in different environmental settings. The data series acquired, i.e., surface temperature and moisture, are compared with the corresponding meteorological datasets on a local and regional scale. The apparatus is designed for supporting also the monitoring of the physical and chemical changes caused by weathering. This novel method is expected to provide insights into the interaction between historical materials and the environment, which can be exploited for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage.

Keywords