Seismic Structural Health Monitoring of Cultural Heritage Structures

In the case of heritage buildings, non-invasive techniques are of paramount interest, especially those that can exploit the natural vibration of the structure. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) can play an important role in the preservation of architectural heritage, especially when it can support a rapid and reliable assessment of structural damage and degradation. More specifically, vibration-based monitoring may help to predict the dynamic response of a structure during seismic events, as well as the damage mechanisms activated by ground motions. This information will in turn allow the selection and development of effective protection strategies. This chapter reports a discussion about the methodological multi-disciplinary approach to SHM, with emphasis on vibration-based SHM techniques, as applied to architectural heritage buildings and structures, along with the description of selected case studies. These examples were chosen in order to cover the various issues connected to design, aims and scopes of the dynamic and seismic SHM, and interpretation of the recorded data.