Damage Detection in Heritage Vaults Through Geometric Deformation Analysis

Masonry vaults are common elements in heritage buildings and, due to their age, may accumulate damages and deformations due to various actions like overloads, support movements, earthquakes, etc. The use of terrestrial laser scanners and structure from motion photogrammetry survey to study these deformations can offer valuable information for structural assessment and conservation, especially when limited knowledge of buildings history is available. The analysis of the deviation between the surveyed point cloud and a reference geometry can reveal deformation patterns and aid the damage detection and action evaluation on the structure. This paper aims to explore the role of the reference geometry to provide a reliable and more accurate identification and quantification of deformations. Deviation analyses will be performed on the vaults of the main nave of two different churches with different reference geometries (i.e. geometries derived from the survey and geometrical primitives fitted on point-cloud) and the results are discussed comparing the deviation maps obtained and the already known deformation and caused.