Abstract
The 3D model is the primary information of an integrated support system for the assessment of structural safety under vertical loads and seismic vulnerability of a masonry building. The available approaches for evaluating seismic demand and capacity still appear inadequate and today aims to improve the process of knowledge of the seismic behavior of masonry structures and of the reliability of the numerical analysis of evaluation methods. Discrete modeling approaches (macro-elements) can lead to more reliable results if accurate surveys of the geometry and construction details of the masonry structure are used, especially in contexts where advise against the execution of invasive on-site tests for assessments both under vertical and seismic loads, limiting the investigation campaigns. In order to improve digital processes, oriented to the knowledge of the state of health and quality of a masonry structure, this study illustrates a new overture to virtual modeling and assessment of the structural safety of this type of work. The survey and relief methodology here proposed integrates digital data sensors—configured within an IoT (Internet of Things) network—in a geometric model with a level of accurate and precise detail, processed downstream of the laser scanner and photogrammetric survey of the single masonry building, as “S. Domenico Church in the “Sassi” of Matera.
Highlights
The typical work setting for an architectural survey, still today, is based on the measurement and graphic rendering of a limited number of flat and orthogonal sections, configuring the survey and restitution operations as substantially two-dimensional operations, even when topographic or photogrammetric restitution tools are used through the inverse perspective [1]
The masonry structure, object of the study, is a Latin cross church with three naves and a transept, whose structure was strongly modified in a 1774 wall complex that rests on a vast underground site, a set of “voids” at below the floor level, which makes the work above very vulnerable and potentially dangerous for the safety of citizens
The main result of the research activity was to demonstrate the importance of accurate geometry detection and construction details for an existing masonry structure, as a first step of seismic assessment in engineering applications
Summary
An underground site is a negative space, which generated by the subtraction of matter, a complex space where each element, by its structure, shape, and function, is closely connected to its surroundings The presence of these cavities is a serious risk for the safety of the overlying structures and the population, due to the possible sinkhole collapse of the buildings and infrastructures built on them [3]. The existing documentation of the Church, in relation to the stratifications and transformations undergone over time, has led to a series of contradictory interpretations on the spatial relationships between the individual environments and the totality of the site investigated These spatial relationships are difficult to understand due to the complexity of the hypogeal structure, denied to the investigator [4] and underlying the wall complex. The assessment of the safety degree of this historic monument is a complex process requiring stability checks that cannot be separated from the timely reconstruction of an overlying hypogeum-structure model that is difficult to create, due to the lack of numerous information: the exact extension and geometry of the underground cavities, the geometry and construction characteristics of the overlying artifacts [5]
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