Abstract Summary
Museum objects are frequently transported by road and air when toured internationally or when moved between storage facilities which exposes them to a range of vibration and shock inputs. Many of these vulnerable objects have incipient damage such as cracks, loose joints, partial delamination or failing repairs which can be exacerbated in transit. It is the conservator’s responsibility to select which objects are safe to travel, largely based on experience and professional judgement. A joint research programme between the University of Southampton and The British Museum aims to develop a scientific framework to aid and inform such judgements. A central research question, which is the focus of this paper, is which methods of transport are potentially most damaging? Vibration measurements were acquired for various modes of transport included manual handling and transport by trolley, van, train, ferry and commercial airliner. Probability density functions are presented for each and higher order statistics (skew and kurtosis) computed to identify near-Gaussian and non-Gaussian segments. Shock response spectra (SRS) of acceleration, pseudo-velocity and relative displacement are presented for a number of impulsive events, and corresponding vibration response spectra (VRS) shown for more normally distributed inputs. Vibration testing was carried out on an artefact packed in bespoke foam packaging inside a standard wooden transport crate. The modal response, combined with SRS and VRS, enabled the suitability of the packaging in reducing the response to different real-life stimuli to be assessed.
