The concrete walls of Trajan's Markets in Rome have stood the test of time and the elements for nearly 2,000 years. They have even survived a major earthquake in 1349. Photo courtesy of Marie Jackson, Berkeley
The concrete walls of Trajan's Markets in Rome have stood the test of time and the elements for nearly 2,000 years. They have even survived a major earthquake in 1349. Photo courtesy of Marie Jackson, Berkeley
Fascinating-I’ve had several conversations with the contractor I work with about Roman concrete-we would like to make some of it, but volcanic tuff and ash are in rather short supply here...
Have been in the Pantheon and it’s amazing. Forms for concrete had detail to replicate the look of wood trim on the concrete.......has withstood two millenia of earthquakes with no problem......
Seems you could get better results making ultra-high performance concrete with more common pozzolans such as fly ash, silica fume and the like.
There are a lot of exotic concrete formulations.
A lot of people don’t understand that concrete develops strength in a curved progression. Usually mix designs are for a specific compressive strength at 28 days of age. The concrete has developed most of its strength by that time but is still develops more and more crystalline strength as it continues to cure and age.
50 year old concrete is stronger than one year old concrete, weather exposure aside. Some mass foundations are so large that the interior continues to cure for many months and years depending upon the size.
Sebastos Harbor at Caesarea is still visible despite being under water, made with faulty aggregate and being 2,000 years since Herod placed it.
I love the Pantheon. Because it became a church it has been continuously maintained. It’s like a time machine showing what the buildings in ruins would have looked like back in the day.
Outside of that, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Even the lime putty of a hundred years ago beats modern cements. There are building all around that are literally disintegrating because they replaced the lime putty mortar with portland cement.
I looked high and low, and could not find a local source of the hot lime I need to make good lime putty. When I was a kid, it was in every hardware store.
I read just the other day that the interior walls of St. Patrick’s Cathedral are manufactured concrete stone above the 30 foot mark. The exterior and the interior below 30 feet are Tuckahoe marble. I did not know that.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
Have you seen this?…
(h/t rense.com)
