Simulating Atmospheric Pollution Weathering on Buildings

Abstract

Interactions between polluted atmosphere and materials lead to an early aging of numerous buildings and monuments. This weathering process leads to important changes in appearance, from color blackening to smallscale geometric alterations: a black crust grows onto parts of affected surfaces, depending on the geometry of the object as well as on its environment. In this paper, we present a method to simulate this very important weathering process. Our method is physically inspired and provides full control to designers, keeping plausible results. First, specific polluted zones are detected according to their real physical classification. Then, the modifications of aspect of each zone are computed. Our results demonstrate that our model matches well the observed behavior of real-world monuments and buildings affected by atmospheric pollution.