MARBLE IN HISTORICAL STRUCTURES

Istanbul Technical University - ITU Taskisla

MIM 486E- Structural System Properties of Monumental
and Historical Construction
Spring Term 2020-2021
Lecturers: Haluk Sesigur, Gulseren Erol Soyoz
By
Eli Gjoka 020170920
WHAT IS MARBLE?
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly
calcite or dolomite. It forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of
metamorphism. It is composed primarily of the mineral calcite (CaCO3) and usually contains
other minerals, such as clay minerals, micas, quartz, pyrite, iron oxides, and graphite.

The transformation of limestone into marble usually occurs at convergent plate boundaries
where large areas of Earth's crust are exposed to the heat and pressure of regional metamorphism.
Before metamorphism, the calcite in the limestone is often in the form of lithified fossil material
and biological debris.

Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure (silicate-poor) limestone or dolomite
protolith. The characteristic swirls and veins of many colored marble varieties are usually due to various
mineral impurities such as clay, silt, sand, iron oxides, or chert which were originally present as grains or
layers in the limestone. Green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally
magnesium-rich limestone or dolomite with silica impurities.

Clay minerals within the marble will alter to micas and more complex silicate structures as the level of
metamorphism increases. Some might contribute to the formation of gem minerals such as corundum -
the mineral of ruby and sapphire.
According to the United States Geological Survey, U.S. domestic marble production in
2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at
$18.9 million in 2005.

In 1998, Italy and China were the world leaders, each representing 16% of world
production, while Spain and India produced 9% and 8%, respectively. In 2018 Turkey
was the world leader in marble export, with 42% share in global marble trade, followed
by Italy with 18% and Greece with 10%. The largest importer of marble in 2018 was
China with a 64% market share, followed by India with 11% and Italy with 5%. Mining of Karibib Marble (2018)

After being sanded with progressively finer abrasives, marble can be polished to a high luster. The ability of marble to to be cut
and polished allows it to be used as floor tiles, architectural panels, facing stone, window sills, stair treads, columns, and many
other pieces of decorative stone. As the favorite medium for Greek and Roman sculptors and architects, marble has become a
cultural symbol of tradition and refined taste.

Flooring Versailles Greek columns Acropolis, Athens Acropolis

1. Pillars Also known as columns have load-bearing
or stabilizing functions. It may be
constructed of a single piece of stone or
wood or built up of units, such as bricks.
The first use of columns was as a single
central support for the roof of relatively
small buildings but from the Bronze Age
(3000-1000 BCE) more sophisticated
columns with other functions beyond
direct structural support appeared in the
Egyptian, Assyrian and Minoan
civilizations.
In Archaic Greece stone began to replace
wood as the primary building material for
large buildings.

Acropolis, Athens

Some stone columns were carved in one piece and columns began to be constructed from separate drums as the buildings
got bigger. Columns made from individual drums are remarkably resistant to seismic activity. Despite this advantage
though, the Romans preferred single monolithic shafts for their columns.
The Romans standardized the columns One of the most fascinated results of
and their marble production in the 1st marble usage in Ottoman Empire is
century BCW and this celebrated type of Dolmabahçe Palace. Most of the pillars in
column is a part of the Pantheon in Dolmabahçe Palace was built with the
Rome. marble obtained from the Marmara
Island. Some pillars also consist of marble
that came from Egypt and Crete.
“Hagia Sophia” mosque
Different types of marble is used mainly
due to different colors and textures. You
Starting from the Romans time, can also see other mosques and
the usage of marble in pillars has monuments that were built around the
become the common practice, same era to have similarities.
especially in mediteranean coast.
After the fall of Roman Empire
and Byzantian, Ottoman Empire
also used marble in many signature
buildings as taking the tradition
from the Romans.
Topkapı palace being one of the
most signitured buildings of
Ottoman Empire, used marble
from Marmara island.
“Dolmabahce” palace
 2. Arches
Arch, in architecture and civil engineering, a curved
member that is used to span an opening and to support
loads from above.
Each block that forms the arch is called voussoirs. The
central voussoir is called the keystone.
Arches have several great advantages over horizontal beams,
or lintels such as being able to span much wider openings
and carry a much greater load than a horizontal beam can
support
“Topkapi” palace

Arches were known in ancient Egypt and Greece but were considered unsuitable for monumental
architecture and seldom used. The Romans, by contrast, used the semicircular arch in bridges,
aqueducts, and large-scale architecture
The Arabs popularized the pointed arch, and it was in their mosques that this form first acquired its
religious connotations. Medieval Europe made great use of the pointed arch, which constituted a basic
element in Gothic architecture.
Cathedral of St.Micheal
The first example of an early Gothic arch in Europe is in Sicily in the Greek fortifications of Gela.
and St.Gudula, Belgium
 a window from La Tricherie,
Aljaferia Palace, a small village near
London Marble Arch
Zaragora Spain Châtellerault (between
Tours and Poitiers)

Court of the Lions,

“Dolmabahce” palace
Andalusia

“Aljaferia” Palace, Zaragoza Layer Marney Tower Essex,

Taj Mahal, India
Spain England
3. Flooring
Marble has long been a symbol of tradition, luxury and
extraordinary taste. The Parthenon in Athens, the
Coliseum in Rome, the Taj Mahal in India, and even
the White House, are all fine examples of how
architects, sculptors, and craftsman have used marble
to create beautiful buildings throughout the ages.

As can be seen in the picture, the floor of Pantheon was

built from Pentelic marble, Numidian yellow
marble, and granite.

Specifically for flooring marble is chosen widely

through the history not only because of its ability to be
polished but also because of the variety of color and
design to be made with it. It was used to create
beautiful designs in the flooring mostly symbolized
wealth and even used to create drawings to tell stories
of wars and legends.

Pantheon Flooring, Rome, Italy

4. Motives and carvings

Stone carving is an activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Through the
history it was performed as an art form with many different stone types, most commonly with limestone and marble.

These earliest examples of the stone carving are the result of hitting
or scratching a softer stone with a harder one, although sometimes
more resilient materials such as antlers are known to have been
used for relatively soft stone. Prior to the discovery of steel by any
culture, all stone carving was carried out by using an abrasion
technique, following rough hewing of the stone block using
hammers. The development of iron made possible stone carving
tools, such as chisels, drills and saws made from steel.
carved stone Jali, a part of
a mosque in ottoman
Constantinople marble wall
empire around 1500s
carving

“Carving stone blocks is simply the job of freeing the human form trapped inside the blocks”
-Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo-
 5. Monuments and Statues Marble first started to be used to
make monuments and statues in the
era of Greek Archaic sculpture
Marble is a translucent stone that allows light to enter and
(c.650-480 BCE). During Romans
produce a soft "glow." It also has the ability to take a very
time, actually bronze was a more
high polish. These properties make it a beautiful stone for
widely used material than marble.
producing sculptures. It is soft, making it easy to sculpt,
After Renaissance, marble was used
very durable under many conditions and when it is
more widely.
fine-grained it has uniform properties in all directions.
The history of marble sculpture can Venus de Milo - in

However, Marble is rare, quite expensive and extremely be divided into eras as the following: Louvre museum
heavy. Also compared to bronze, marble has a lower tensile Neolithic Marble Sculptures,
strength and is vulnerable to cracking and compared to Archaic Greek Marble Sculpture,
granite, has significantly less weather-resistance. Classical Greek Marble Sculpture,
Hellenistic Greek Marble
Sculpture, Roman Marbles,
Renaissance Marble
SculptureMannerist/Baroque
MarblesNeoclassical Marble
The 1st-century BC Sculpture, Modern Marble
sculpture 'The Reclining
Sculpture.
Hermaphroditus - Rome The West Wing 1876
Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Marble
Compressive (Crushing) Strength 540 MPa / 78 x 10^3 psi

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus 54 GPa / GPa / 7.8 x 10^6 psi

Poisson's Ratio 0.2

Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS) 9.0 MPa / 1.3 x 10^3 psi

Shear Modulus 27 GPa / 3.9 x 10^6 psi

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical 250 °C / 480 °F

Thermal Conductivity 3.1 W/m-K / 1.8 BTU/h-ft-°F

Specific Heat Capacity 870 J/kg-K / 0.21 BTU/lb-°F

Thermal Expansion 21 µm/m-K

In-situ and laboratory tests
Laboratory Test nr.1
“The laboratory testing of potential bowing and expansion of marble”

Abstract: The use of thin marble and limestone panels for facade cladding has increased substantially during the last five decades. The durability
of such thin slabs (often only 30 mm thick) has been assumed to be satisfactory based on centuries of successful use as a structural building stone.
Nevertheless, all over the world, the long-term deformation and strength loss of some cladding panels have led to concerns about its safe and
durable use. The detailed assessment of marble and limestone within the TEAM-project (see also www.sp.se/building/team), is used to develop a
hypothesis for the observed deterioration and to develop remedial actions. This paper presents test methods for the bowing and expansion potential
of marble. The method is discussed and the relevance of the test exposures is demonstrated by comparisons with on-site observations on marble
cladding. A number of results are presented, illustrating the influence of the temperature cycles, the humidity and the stone type on the bowing and
expansion.

Discussion: The test method NT Build 499, developed by Schouenborg et al. (1997), uses a standard test specimen of 400 mm length, typically
100 mm width and a thickness, similar to the panel’s thickness (or 30 mm in standard tests). The specimen is conditioned by drying at 40 oC until a
stable weight is achieved (usually within 7 days), followed by cooling to 20 oC and a partial submerging in water for 24 hours at this temperature.
The specimen is placed in an insulated container,where it is placed on a tray, filled with a layer of filter cloth or sand. The tray is filled with distilled or
demineralised water up to approx. 10 mm below the upper surface of the test specimen.
The specimens are exposed to a number of cycles.
 Steps
Figure 9. Microstructure of
tested marbles; top is
Malmö (inter-lobale) and
bottom is Nyköping
(granoblastic-polygonal).
Each image is 2 x 2.8 mm.

Figure 3. Illustration of test set-up,

NT Build 499.

Figure 4. Ideal temperature

variation in bowing test and
moni-tored temperatures on the
upper and lower side of a test
speci-men.

Measuring bowing in
the laboratory.
Conclusion
The two test methods have now been tested over more than 5 years and on 75 different stone types, which covers marble,
sandstone, granite, chalkstone, etc. and originate from over 15 countries. The test methods have been found to work very
well in the laboratories involved. The results of the test methods correspond to the observed behaviour in buildings with
marble cladding. The results of the test methods provide also a necessary link to other material data and to the
microstructure of the marble and will thus facilitate the understanding of the deterioration mechanism.

The test methods are able to distinguish between stone types with low, medium and high bowing and expansion potentials,
thus providing a very much needed tool in the selection of suitable marbles. The methods are being discussed as potential
CEN-test methods and could form a part of the later, manda-tory product control.
Laboratory Test nr.2
“A Laboratory-Testing-Based Study on the Strength, Deformability, and Dilatancy of Carbonate Rocks at Low
Confinement”

Abstract: A servo-controlled testing setup was used to investigate the stress–strain behaviour of three carbonate rocks into the post-failure region.
A series of uniaxial and triaxial tests on Indiana limestone, Carrara marble, and Toral de Los Vados limestone have been performed, gathering
information on the evolution of the strength parameters and stiffness of these rocks, as well as on their post-yield dilatational properties.

Discussion: The rocks used for this study were selected both because of their relative uniformity and because of the differences in their petrologic
properties.Carrara marble is a metamorphic rock of Triassic age (201–252 Ma) formed from the metamorphism of an ancient carbonate shelf. There
are several varieties of Carrara marble depending on the purity of the marble and the prevalence of microstructures in the rock. One such variety was
used by Michelangelo for his masterpiece, ‘‘David’’. The white Carrara marble used in this study is 100 % calcite (Howarth and Rowlands 1987). Grain
sizes of Carrara marble of 0.1 mm (Edmond and Paterson 1972), 0.23 mm (Fredrich et al. 1990), and 0.3 mm (Howarth and Rowlands 1987) have
been reported in the literature. Most grains in the samples used for this study are closest to approximately 0.1 mm in size. The porosity of Carrara
marble is very low, in the range of 0.7 % (Fredrich et al. 1990) to 1.1 % (Edmond and Paterson 1972). The samples tested were determined to have a
mean density of 2.70 g/ cm3 with a standard deviation of 0.01 g/cm3 . Previous studies on Carrara marble have focussed on the brittle–ductile
transition of sedimentary and/or carbonate rocks at moderate to high confining pressures and/or temperatures (Edmond and Paterson 1972; Turner
et al. 1954; Griggs et al. 1960; Mogi 1966; Fredrich et al. 1989; Ord 1991). Other studies have used Carrara Marble to study the influence of grain size
on rock yield (Howarth and Rowlands 1987; Fredrich et al. 1989; Olsson 1974).

Testing: For each rock type, compression tests were carried out under uniaxial conditions and triaxial conditions with confining pressures of 1, 2, 4,
6, 8, 10, and 12 MPa. These confining pressures were selected based on their relevance for near excavation conditions, and also because of the
upper limit pressure of 20 MPa of the hydraulic system. The numbers of samples tested at each confining pressure are shown in Table 1. Samples
were drilled with a nominal diameter of 54 mm and a length of 100 mm from large block samples extracted from near surface quarries. Axial loading
was applied using a standard 200-tonne hydraulic press at a rate of 0.5 kN/s.
Data Analysis
Conclusion and Summary

Uniaxial and triaxial compression tests were conducted with the goal of studying the constitutive behaviour of three
carbonate rocks within a plasticity framework. A total of 75 tests were conducted, with loading–unloading cycles both used to
ensure stability of the system during loading and also to help constrain the evolution of irrecoverable strains.

The Carrara marble was found to be the most ductile of the three rocks tested, with shear failure modes being prominent
even in uniaxial conditions; because of this, very large strains could be attained. By contrast, the heterogeneous Toral de
Los Vados limestone was found to be extremely brittle, and failed by axial cracking and opening along sub-horizontal
grain-scale structures. The Indiana limestone showed the greatest variability in its behaviour, with failure under uniaxial
conditions being extremely brittle, whereas failure at even modest confinements tended to be controlled by more ductile
shear. Crack damage (CD), peak stress, and residual strength envelopes were determined for each of the rocks. Upon
finding that the residual friction angle of the Indiana limestone and Carrara marble is higher than the friction angle at peak
strength, the evolution of the Coulomb strength parameters was determined as a function of plastic shear strain. All three
rocks were found to fit a cohesion weakening-friction-strengthening (CWFS) model.
 REFERENCES
❖ Marble- Geology

❖ History of Marble

❖ Architecture Arch

❖ Marble Tile History

❖ Usage of Marble

❖ Sculptures of Marble

In-situ and Laboratory Testing

➔ Laboratory Test nr.1

Grelk, Bent & Goltermann, Per & Schouenborg, Björn & Koch, Andreas & Alnaes, L. (2019). The laboratory testing of
potential bowing and expansion of marble.

➔ Laboratory Test nr.2

Walton, G., Arzúa, J., Alejano, L. R., & Diederichs, M. S. (2014). A Laboratory-Testing-Based Study on the Strength,
Deformability, and Dilatancy of Carbonate Rocks at Low Confinement. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 48(3), 941–958.
doi:10.1007/s00603-014-0631-8