HOW TO INCREASE AGE OF TAJ MAHAL? PRESENTATION BY: J V Prem Kumar Reddy A Sunil Kumar Ampati Hareesh

History of taj mahal Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz begam. Taj Mahal was built as a symbol of love. Taj Mahal is basically a tomb located in Agra. The architects are: Ustad Ahmad Lahaui, Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan, Makramat Khan. It is widely recognized as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". The construction began around 1632. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later.

LOCATION It is located in the bank of river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar pradesh. The base structure is essentially a large, multi-chambered cube with chamfered corners, forming an unequal octagon that is approximately 55 metres (180 ft) on each of the four long sides. On each of these sides, a vaulted archway, frames the with two similarly shaped, arched balconies stacked on either side. Four minarets(40m) frame the tomb, one at each corner of the plinth facing the chamfered corners.

CONSTRUCTION The Taj Mahal was built on a parcel of land to the south of the walled city of Agra. An area of roughly three acres was excavated, filled with dirt to reduce seepage, and leveled at 50 meters (160 ft) above riverbank. Wells were dug and filled with stone and rubble to form the footings of the tomb. 1,000 elephants, thousands of horses, bullocks and men are used for construction.  Water was drawn from the river by a series of purrs, an animal-powered rope and bucket mechanism, into a large storage tank and raised to a large distribution tank. Approximately about 32 million Rupees at that time. 28 precious and semi-precious stones are used.

THREATS General ideas of threats by people: Environmental pollution. Which is causing acid rain. Main threat is: Decrease in level of Yamuna at 5feet/year The results of threat:  In 2010, cracks appeared in parts of the tomb.  The minarets which surround the monument were showing signs of tilting.  Some engineers predict that the tomb may collapse within 5 years.

REASON? This is all due to rotting of wood. The structure of foundation actually is? The foundation is surrounded by wood. Wood(ebony, teak) has life of infinite when it is in pure water. It has a life of 40-50 years in air. About 5 years in moisture. The great engineers of that time never thought of these perennial rivers will dry up. So, they planned the Taj Mahal based on this assumption.

Using Hydrogels Could Solve This Problem POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Making the river free from pollution. Construction of dam. Artificial supply of water. Reduction of use of underground water. Though these are possible but they are not feasible because of their negative impacts OUR SOLUTION Using Hydrogels Could Solve This Problem

WHAT ARE HYDROGELS? Hydrogel is a network of polymer chains that are hydrophilic, sometimes found as a colloidal gel in which water is the dispersion medium.  Hydrogels are highly absorbent (they can contain over 99.9% water) natural or synthetic polymers.  Hydrogels also possess a degree of flexibility very similar to natural tissue, due to their significant water content. Common ingredients are e.g. polyvinyl alcohol, sodium polyacrylate, acrylate polymers and copolymers with an abundance of hydrophilic groups.

HOW AND WHY? These hydrogels expand by absorbing water and can retain water. When these are kept along the wood they can increase the ground level of water also. So these can protect the wood from rotting. This may be the best solution. Show the TAJ MAHAL to next generations as the TAJ MAHAL not in pictures