Design for attachment of steel structure to a stone statue

[FiniteMatt]

I posted this in the mechanical section of the forums, and it was suggested to cross post it here:

I'm working on a project for a client involving a statue that we are developing an internal steel frame to support it during CNC milling, and eventually to be used when transporting the statue. The frame would be tubes and plates, and would attach to points in the interior of this hollowed out Belgian Black marble statue. The plan is to use threaded epoxied anchors in the stone. They have tests that the epoxy is as strong/stronger than the stone. We have a couple of ideas of how to sort of verify the connection points via FEA by treating the statue as perfectly rigid and measuring the reaction forces at the mounting points and just making sure the load is more or less distributed evenly. We're debating whether we need to put thin plastic/rubber/wood or shims between the steel and the stone.

That said, does anyone know of any resources for methods of designing attachment points in stone like this? I've done a little poking around the internet, and cant find anything, or I'm not coming up with the right keywords.

 

[1503-44]

"Rock Bolts"
Used a lot in tunnel construction and cliff stabilisation.
You will find several types here,

https://dywidag.com/technologies/rock-bolts

Allowing for thermal expansion of the steel structure may be something to think about.
Why not make the frame a permanent feature, like the Statue of Liberty.

Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."