ORIGINAL ARTICLE Water absorption process effect on strength of Ayazini tuff, such as the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), flexural strength and freeze and thaw effect Mustafa Yavuz C ¸ elik • Huseyin Akbulut • Ays ¸e Ergu ¨l Received: 20 February 2013 / Accepted: 21 September 2013 / Published online: 6 October 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Tuffs have been used as a construction material possibly since ancient times. In Afyonkarahisar, Turkey, there are numerous buildings constructed by tuff. Tuff has been a local construction material, during the Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Even though tuffs have relatively low durability and low strength values compared to marble, etc., they have survived with no major deterioration failures on many historical buildings. It has also been preferred because of its high porous texture, lightweight and easy shaping and process properties in the building sector. Naturally, it would be easily affected by water and humidity because of its porous structure. However, having this kind of structure leads to poor durability properties due to keeping water in it. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the physical and mechanical properties of the tuff quarried from the region and possible water effect, which may lead to degra- dation of its strength and durability of the material, thereby shortening the life span of the building structure used. Samples, which were tested after exposing to water and the freeze and thaw effects, were measured at a certain time. In this study, uniaxial compressive strength and flexural strength tests were conducted on test samples. The test results indicate that water may deteriorate the tuff’s strength properties and durability of the materials in due time. Keywords Ayazini tuff Á Durability Á Freeze and thaw strength Á Water absorption Introduction Tuffs are products of explosive volcanic eruptions and are composed of volcanic ash and pumice particles that are bonded by natural cements or are naturally welded; they make excellent building materials and have been proposed as a medium for industrial and nuclear waste storage. Tuff deposits are often hundreds of metres thick and can cover hundreds to thousands of square kilometres. The most common tuffs used for building material are tuffs (pyro- clastic flow deposits), in which the pumice and glass shards have been sintered by heat immediately after deposition or have been bonded by natural cements precipitated from fluids percolating through the deposits. When used for building stone, tuff is sawn or broken away from a quarry face along natural cooling joints and then fashioned into blocks by hand or with power saws. These blocks, with enough strength for multiple-story buildings, stone walls and other structures, are resistant to weathering, are light- weight and have good insulating properties better than most other natural building stones (Heiken 2006). Nevertheless during the Ottoman period, various his- torical buildings such as mosques and fountains in Af- yonkarahisar were made of tuffs (Fig. 1). The village of Ayazini has numerous rock dwellings and also early Christian churches with cruciform domed rock basilica and tombs dating from antiquity and the Byzantine period, caved in the volcanic tuff stone (Fig. 2). The churches have M. Y. C ¸ elik (&) Afyon Vocational School, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03100 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey e-mail: mycelik@aku.edu.tr H. Akbulut Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Afyon Kocatepe University, ANS Campus, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey e-mail: hakbulut@aku.edu.tr A. Ergu ¨l Yayla Mah. Bag ˘cı Cad. 88/5 Etlik, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: ozgen_a@hotmail.com 123 Environ Earth Sci (2014) 71:4247–4259 DOI 10.1007/s12665-013-2819-8