Integrated approach for on-site assessment of conservation state of a historical masonry building: Malvezzi Palace, Italy

In recent years, the evaluation of the conservation state of historic structures has drawn great attention from a wide range of professionals. Despite this, a complete and exhaustive guideline on this topic is not available and advancement on the diagnostic pathway to be followed for the assessment of historic masonry structures is still needed. The 7th FP EU Project SMooHS’s tasks included the enhancement of currently available diagnostic methodologies and the development of “smart” monitoring systems. In this paper, a multiphase and interdisciplinary approach proposed for the assessment of the health state of historical buildings is illustrated through a case study: Malvezzi Palace in Bologna, Italy. Considering both masonry and timber elements, a number of NDT and MDT techniques (sonics, ultrasonics, impact-echo, laser vibrometer, radar, thermography, acoustic emission, sampling for lab analyses, endoscopy, drilling penetration resistance, spectral analyser, wood moisture tester, ...) have been combined and integrated with advanced wireless monitoring systems.