Simulating Spatio-Temporal Ageing Phenomena on Cultural Heritage with Erosion Particles

The cultural legacy of Europe consists of a wide range of objects, including artwork, archaeological structures and findings and historical monuments. A significant issue that cultural heritage faces is the degradation due to ageing phenomena. Thus, there exists a strong motivation in the creation of non-catastrophic aging simulations of cultural heritage. This paper presents a study and a framework of a digital, spatiotemporal ageing simulation focused on erosion. More specifically, the proposed framework simulates the hydraulic erosion of Cultural Heritage structures based on a particle system. Similar to environmental factors like rainfall, the simulation particles are used to cause degradation effects on a textural level. Finally, the effects of our method are evaluated with experimental simulation results. The proposed model can help experts identify regions that face the highest threat due to erosion or be used in entertainment applications.