HOW TO INCREASE
AGE OF TAJ MAHAL?
PRESENTATION BY:
J V Prem Kumar Reddy
A Sunil Kumar
Ampati Hareesh
Indian Institute of Technology
Hyderabad
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.
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