Abstract

The impact of floods on cultural heritage: types of damage, frequent treatment measures, and a new proposal

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Abstract

Floods are a worldwide problem, causing several types of damage to historic buildings that deserve special preservation. In this work, a ventilated underground channel is proposed as a solution to protect historical buildings from the harmful effects of flooding. To evaluate the efficiency of this system, an experimental setup was prepared in the laboratory to compare the drying time after flooding of two limestone walls, one with the ventilation channel and the other without. The drying process was monitored with Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) probes. The obtained results show a substantial reduction in the drying time of the wall with the ventilation channel. Still, more studies are required to evaluate the conditions where the system application is most impactful.

Keywords: Historical Buildings, Floods, Ventilation Channel, Drying

How to Cite:

Freitas, T. S., Guimarães, A., Roels, S. & Peixoto de Freitas, V., (2025) “The impact of floods on cultural heritage: types of damage, frequent treatment measures, and a new proposal”, UCL Open Environment 7(S1). doi: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.icmb25.a26

Rights: Author, [2025]