SURVEYING AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELING FOR PRESERVATION AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

The present paper aims at exploring the potential contribution of Geomatics to Structural Engineering, by investigating the capabilities and advantages of Terrestrial Laser Scanning TLS and Close Range Photogrammetry CRP. In this perspective, the research has been carried out in three notable case studies, of which two belong to the Italian Cultural Heritage. The first one has been the San Felice sul Panaro Fortress, a historical building damaged by the Emilia Earthquake, on May 2012. It is composed by a square plan with a tower in each corner with the most important, the Mastio tower, with a height of about 32 m. As a second case, the complex of Aquileia was chosen for its distinguishing octagonal shape, which is suitable for geometric comparisons and analyses. Finally, the study focused on San Luzi Church with its bell tower of about 60 m high. The three case studies are definitely different each other, for geometrical and historical elements. Therefore, the transformation of the point cloud obtained from Geomatics techniques into a Finite Element Model FEM –which is the required starting point for a structural analysis- must follow different approaches, in order to obtain adequate and detailed voxel models. With the aim of evaluating the proper definitions of the FE models, both static and dynamic analyses were carried out. The outcomes of the presented research demonstrates how the capabilities of Geomatics to produce comprehensive and detailed description of the geometry of buildings can be exploited also for structural analysis, especially for heritage buildings for which focused analyses ensure their preservation.