Cosmic ray tracking to monitor the stability of historical buildings: a feasibility study

Abstract

A cosmic ray muon detection system is proposed for stability monitoring in the field of civil engineering, in particular for the static monitoring of historical buildings, where conservation constraints are severe and the time evolution of the deformation phenomena under study may be of the order of months or years. The stability monitoring of the wooden vaulted roof of the Palazzo della Loggia, located in the town of Brescia, Italy, has been considered as a case study. The feasibility, as well as the performance and limitations of a stability monitoring system based on cosmic ray tracking have been studied by Monte Carlo simulations. A study of possible systematic uncertainties is presented along with a realistic design for the construction of a measurement system prototype.