Pioneering New Approaches to Protecting Stone Heritage in Conflict Zones

Many of the most important extant heritage monuments are constructed from stone, a material which is extremely susceptible to the principle weathering agents found in arid environments; moisture ingression, extreme temperature fluctuation and haloclasty.

The aim of this project is to investigate how ballistic impact and resulting damage (surface fracturing, shearing etc.) facilitates and exacerbates these weathering processes on sedimentary stone in built heritage in contemporary conflict regions.

These weathering processes will be investigated as individual variables within a wider weathering programme, in order to understand which weathering processes and combinations pose the greatest risk to heritage monuments damaged in conflict. This research will be combined with investigations into the effects of altering projectile type and impact angle.