{"id":40925,"date":"2023-02-09T13:31:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T20:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=40925"},"modified":"2023-02-09T13:33:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T20:33:54","slug":"solving-the-riddle-of-roman-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/solving-the-riddle-of-roman-concrete\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the Riddle of Roman Concrete"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Solving the Riddle of Roman Concrete<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The engineering wonders of ancient Rome are widely known and much of their impressive construction was held together with Roman concrete. Structures like the Pantheon, built in A.D. 128 and featuring the the world\u2019s biggest unreinforced concrete dome, remain intact today, as do ancient aqueducts, still delivering water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up until recently though, the reason why Roman concrete could remain so durable, while modern concrete crumbles, had eluded researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a team of investigators from MIT, Harvard University, and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, has made progress in this field, discovering ancient concrete-manufacturing strategies that incorporated several key self-healing functionalities. The findings are published today in the journal Science Advances, in a paper by MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Admir Masic, former doctoral student Linda Seymour \u201914, PhD \u201921, and four others.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, researchers have assumed that the key to the ancient concrete\u2019s durability was based on one ingredient: pozzolanic material such as volcanic ash from the area of Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. This specific kind of ash was even shipped all across the vast Roman empire to be used in construction, and was described as a key ingredient for concrete in accounts by architects and historians at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under closer examination, these ancient samples also contain small, distinctive, millimeter-scale bright white mineral features, which have been long recognized as a ubiquitous component of Roman concretes. These white chunks, often referred to as \u201clime clasts,\u201d originate from lime, another key component of the ancient concrete mix. \u201cEver since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I\u2019ve always been fascinated by these features,\u201d says Masic. \u201cThese are not found in modern concrete formulations, so why are they present in these ancient materials?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the rest<\/a> at MIT News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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