Abstract
The infrared thermography is a type of non-destructive investigation which can find interesting application in acquiring information about the structural features of ancient masonry buildings. In this case, in fact, the needs of preservation of the historical values have to be compound with the needs of achieving a proper level of knowledge of the parameters influencing the structural behaviour in order to perform a reliable evaluation of their seismic safety. A recent application of the infrared thermography was proposed in the framework of the Project on the seismic evaluation of the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples (Italy). The objective was to clarify if the painted vaults covering some rooms could have structural function and to identify their constructive typology. In this circumstance, an interesting methodological approach, with more general validity, has been developed by integrating the instrumental investigations with different sources of information, such as historical documents and hypotheses of critical interpretation.
Highlights
The typological identification of the horizontal structures is a crucial aspect in defining proper models of the seismic behavior of masonry buildings
The attention of this paper is focused in particular on the infrared thermography, a Nondestructive Testing (NDT) method which has been revealed effective for several kinds of investigations on historical buildings, because it does not require contact with the tested object and allows preserving its integrity (Avdelidis and Moropoulou, 2004; Meola, 2007; Spodek and Rosina, 2009)
The infrared thermography is usually carried out according to two distinct approaches depending on the existing thermal contrast between the investigated object and the background: The passive approach detects the thermal radiation emitted by its surface under natural conditions, without employing any heating; this approach provides mainly qualitative data about the object
Summary
The typological identification of the horizontal structures is a crucial aspect in defining proper models of the seismic behavior of masonry buildings. The acquisition of the data required by a proper characterization of these structures is difficult to carry out, in particular when cultural heritage buildings are involved In these cases, the execution of direct inspections and testing is usually not compatible with the needs to preserve the historical and artistic values inherent to painted ceilings or remarkable floors. The infrared thermography was used to investigate the vaults related to the rooms 17, 18, 33 e 46 (Fig. 1) and in these cases it was possible to recognize from the infrared images of the intrados surfaces the presence of the ribs of a timber structure. (c) Fig. 9: Room n. 48. (a) planimetric localization of the point of view of the camera (b) view of the intrados of the vault (c)
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