Rock features and alteration of stone materials used for the built environment: a review of recent publications on ageing tests

Abstract

This work presents a review of recent publications, with publication date between 2017 and 2019, with information on the relation between rock characteristics and the effects of diverse agents associated with alteration of stone materials in the built environment. It considers information obtained from ageing tests performed under laboratory conditions and by exposure to outdoor agents. Several lithological groups were considered, with sedimentary carbonate rocks being the most frequently studied lithotypes and silicate metamorphic rocks being the group with scarcer information. In terms of ageing tests, salt weathering was the most frequent one while there was a noticeable lesser amount of information from tests with biological colonization. The collected data showed the influence of diverse features, from specific minerals to whole-rock properties and the presence of heterogeneities. These information are discussed in the context of formulating a general framework for stone decay.