Application of Multi-Temporal InSAR (MT-InSAR) for structural monitoring: the case study of Scrovegni Chapel in Padova

Abstract

In the last years, the use of Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) technique for structural health monitoring (SHM) of buildings and infrastructures has spread. Compared to traditional monitoring methods, MT-InSAR technique involves a number of advantages, e.g. perform back-analysis and extend the monitoring to the surrounding area, that makes it a very cost-effective tool. On the other hand, some drawbacks still have to be fully overcome, such as the issues related to the geocoding of the measurement points and the noisiness in the time series. In this article, the application of MT-InSAR monitoring to a case study is presented. The structure of interest is the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova, recently declared a world heritage site by UNESCO as it contains numerous frescos executed by Giotto. Using images acquired by COSMO-SkyMed constellation, the deformation of the area surrounding the Chapel was estimated, by means of spatial interpolation algorithms. In addition, time series referred to measurement points located on the rooftop were analyzed and compared to the environmental data (temperature and humidity) acquired by on-site physical sensors already installed.