Application of sonic and radar tests on the piers and walls of the Cathedral of Noto

Abstract

The authors applied systematically sonic tests, radar tests and other diagnostic techniques on the remaining walls and piers of the Cathedral of Noto. The experimental survey was carried out by the Laboratory of the DIS, Politecnico of Milan (Person in Charge: Prof. Binda, Prof. Baronio) in collaboration with the designers (Ing. R. De Benedictis, Arch. S. Tringali) and the experts working on the reconstruction. The Prefettura of Siracusa founded the research. The right aisle and most of the dome of the Cathedral collapsed in 1996. The aim of the research was to verify the state of damage and the possibility of conservation of the walls and piers in view of the reconstruction of the damaged part of the Cathedral. Furthermore, the sonic tests were used to control the effect of grout injection used as a possible technique for repair of the damaged masonry (Proceedings of the Conference on Nondestructive Evaluation of Civil Structures and Materials, Boulder, Colorado; (1992) 329; Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Structural Faults and Repair, 3 (1995) 195). In the following the results will be reported and the reliability of the tests will be discussed as it was confirmed by the use of other complementary diagnosis techniques (Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Historical Buildings, STREMAH 99, Dresden, Germany, (1999) 323).