David cracks under the stress

For statues, stress injuries come from standing in place for hundreds of years. Using a novel technique, researchers have now developed a way to predict such fracturing, applying the procedure to Michelangelo's famous statue David in an analysis that proved simpler, faster and more accurate than previous methods.

In their analysis of Michelangelo’s David, engineering researchers from UW-Madison and Florida International University were able to predict the stresses that the statue endures on a daily basis.

The analysis matched well with the statue’s known crack damage, indicating that the method could help archivists by serving as a predictor for what areas of an ancient artefact may need to be bolstered to prevent damage, even if the statue has not yet shown fatigue.

In applying the technique to other objects - including human bones - the researchers are also gaining new perspective on how these structures are likely to fail.

'This research is a breakthrough technology for performing direct engineering analysis on physical artefacts in situ,' said University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineering Prof Vadim Shapiro.