Photos: Figure 1 - Wind flow vectors over a plane intersecting the temples as obtained from numerical simulation.
Figure 2 - Geometric model obtained using on-site measurements.
The University of Malta has successfully secured research funding under MCST鈥檚 Fusion R&I Research Excellence Programme (REP-2023-031). The project is called MEGALITH (Environmental Degradation of Malta鈥檚 Megalithic Temples). The principal investigator is Prof. Ing. Daniel Micallef while Prof. JoAnn Cassar and Dr Joel Azzopardi are project partners. The project is also supported by the participation of existing research support officers Ms Rosangela Faieta and Mr Mantas Valantinavicius.
The aim of this project is to investigate and characterise the micro-scale environmental physical processes promoting the degradation of the Globigerina Limestone in the pilot study of Mnajdra Temples, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Previous efforts have been focused on understanding the direct and indirect causes of deterioration, and more recently focused on investigating the wind flow conditions at the Mnajdra temples. These investigations have been both experimentally and numerically investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In this project we propose an extension to this work wherein the flow conditions found close to the surface of the stone are obtained using numerical simulations under a wide range of flow conditions. Artificial Intelligence models that are trained on the data generated from these simulations will be constructed and validated. Such models can serve to provide direct mapping between meteorological conditions and the conditions close to the surface of the stone being studied. Therewith, these models can provide long-term simulations of degradation scenarios under different conditions, including the effects of climate change. Both classical machine learning models and more modern deep learning models will be investigated.
Degradation processes in stone are highly dependent on environmental factors including wind conditions, temperature and humidity fluctuations, wind driven rain, solar radiation and salt crystallisation cycles. Malta鈥檚 megalithic temples have been exposed to harsh environmental conditions for thousands of years and efforts to actively reduce the degradation rates of such stones has included the erection of shelters above three of the megalithic temples (including Mnajdra), where environmental conditions and degradation phenomena are being studies. Characterising the environment is crucial to be able to understand the mechanisms leading to limestone degradation and therefore to provide a scientific basis for decision making in protecting this heritage.
MEGALITH is a multi-disciplinary project involving academics within the Department of Environmental Design and the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage from the Faculty for the Built Environment, and the Department of Artificial Intelligence from the Faculty of ICT. It is also supported by Heritage Malta.
