Earlier quoted context omitted.
Italy is wonderful, you should go, only problem is that they speak Italian.
Well, it's also wonderful they speak Italian!
But they drive Italian too. Ho well.
Why was Roman concrete so durable?
251–260 of 299 posts
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
With zero sarcasm, when I read “every time I go to Rome” I feel that I took a wrong turn in life somewhere. Fucking awesome mate.
Well, I lived in Italy for 10 years. Going to Rome from time to time wasn't that hard. Now I live in Spain and I continue to fly to Rome now and then. In Europe, distances are easy to overcome.
In Europe, 100km is a long way; in the US, 100 years is a long time.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#253Relevant thread: https://twitter.com/cleptok/status/1611622181665923075 Ok. Let's do a short thread on Roman cement for the 3 people out there that might be interested. You often hear that the Romans had some sort of superior and arcane knowledge on superior cement mixes that has been now lost. And still today we cannot replicate it. This is complete nonsense. Modern day cement (and any other building material, reall…
And the real deal is modern https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile-reinforced_concrete.
Especially the combination of carbon fiber and concrete is a very promising solution, which is researched in Germany: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonbeton
This stuff is superior to anything the romans did in every aspect.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#254For people who don't know the difference between cement, mortar and concrete: Cement is a substance used for producing mortar and concrete. It's never used on its own. It is a "binding agent". Note that the term "cement" is often not used correctly in everyday speech, with people talking about gluing bricks together with cement, when bricks are actually glued together with mortar. Mortar is the glue between bricks. Y…
> The bricks in a brick wall can be made from it.
I think "brick wall" usually refers to fired clay blocks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick
But yeah, you can make concrete blocks and build stuff with those. They are usually larger than clay bricks. In my country, the stuff used for building is mostly concrete bricks filled with small air bubbles air so that it is lighter and also insulates better.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#255The research paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add1602
One method to reduce cement’s carbon footprint (which accounts for up to 8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions), is to improve the longevity of concrete through the incorporation of self-healing functionalities. The resulting extended use life, combined with a reduction in the need for extensive repair, could thus reduce the environmental impact and improve the economic life cycle of modern cementitious constru…
> One method to refuce cement‘s carbon footprint…
…is to simply use less concrete by making it much stronger.
Very promising in that respect is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile-reinforced_concrete#Su...
Especially carbon concrete can be up to 4 times stronger than steel concrete, so one can reduce the amount of material necessary by 4 times.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I lived in Italy for 10 years. Going to Rome from time to time wasn't that hard. Now I live in Spain and I continue to fly to Rome now and then. In Europe, distances are easy to overcome.
In Europe, 100km is a long way; in the US, 100 years is a long time.
Do you mean 1000km? The thread is about Rome being easy to reach.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Survivor bias comes up every time this topic is mentioned, but it really has less explanatory power than most people think. If you meet a man born in 1932 who is still running marathons and doesn't need glasses, it's probably luck, although he might have some valuable diet tips to share. If you meet a man born in 1732 running the same marathon, it's time to rule out luck, and start collecting blood samples because he…
Right. Romans experimented with the formula for concrete for centuries, and learned a lot about how centuries-old concrete structures deteriorated. They didn't have modern chemistry, but they had observational skills and were serious about their work. It would not be surprising to find that most structures weren't built to last any longer than ours, but that some were meant for the ages. An important difference today…
We build dams to be long lasting.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#258For people who don't know the difference between cement, mortar and concrete: Cement is a substance used for producing mortar and concrete. It's never used on its own. It is a "binding agent". Note that the term "cement" is often not used correctly in everyday speech, with people talking about gluing bricks together with cement, when bricks are actually glued together with mortar. Mortar is the glue between bricks. Y…
> The bricks in a brick wall can be made from it. I think "brick wall" usually refers to fired clay blocks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick But yeah, you can make concrete blocks and build stuff with those. They are usually larger than clay bricks. In my country, the stuff used for building is mostly concrete bricks filled with small air bubbles air so that it is lighter and also insulates better.
This type is called autoclaved aerated concrete.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclaved_aerated_concrete
It's pretty good but it's also brittle. You have to use special screws and wall plugs if you want to attach something.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
One method to reduce cement’s carbon footprint (which accounts for up to 8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions), is to improve the longevity of concrete through the incorporation of self-healing functionalities. The resulting extended use life, combined with a reduction in the need for extensive repair, could thus reduce the environmental impact and improve the economic life cycle of modern cementitious constru…
> One method to refuce cement‘s carbon footprint… …is to simply use less concrete by making it much stronger. Very promising in that respect is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile-reinforced_concrete#Su... Especially carbon concrete can be up to 4 times stronger than steel concrete, so one can reduce the amount of material necessary by 4 times.
Don't worry the engineers will use five times less concrete and sacrifice longevity.
Re: Why was Roman concrete so durable?
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
One method to reduce cement’s carbon footprint (which accounts for up to 8% of total global greenhouse gas emissions), is to improve the longevity of concrete through the incorporation of self-healing functionalities. The resulting extended use life, combined with a reduction in the need for extensive repair, could thus reduce the environmental impact and improve the economic life cycle of modern cementitious constru…
if we built these aquaducts now using common concrete, without steel reinforcement, they'd be in shambles in a few years.
Our dams don't appear to be that fragile.