Arch in Kensington Gardens before it was taken down

Dr John Harrison from Imperial College London’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering said: “Rock engineering techniques are usually used for stabilisation of tunnels and rock slopes, but the basic concepts of understanding how rock behaves when it is subjected to loads are immediately applicable to stone sculptures. We can now apply this knowledge to preserving some of the nation’s most important and historic artworks.”

Engineers at Imperial College London, in collaboration with the International Drawing Institute, Glasgow School of Art, and Tate, carried out a detailed analysis of the Arch to see whether engineering computer simulation and analysis techniques could be used to understand and preserve complex artefacts which experience structural problems.

By testing rock samples and using laser scanning technologies which examined the large dismantled stone blocks, they gathered data which was used to generate 3D computer simulations of the sculpture for analysis.

By modelling how the structural stresses exerted pressures on the Arch, researchers found that its unusual shape, the poor location of the structural joints which held the blocks together, and the use of brittle travertine stone all contributed to its unsteadiness.

The research was funded as part of the Finite Elements with Laser Scanning for mechanical analysis of Sculptural Objects (FELSSO) project by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Henry Moore Foundation with assistance also from the Royal Parks.