Applying bim to built heritage with complex shapes: The ice house of filarete's ospedale maggiore in milan, Italy

This paper presents the development of a BIM model for a stratified historic structure characterized by a complex geometry: Filarete's Ospedale Maggiore ice house, one of the few remaining historic ice houses in Milan (Fig. 1). Filarete, a well-known Renaissance architect and theorist, planned the hospital in the 15th century, but the ice house was built two centuries later with a double-storey irregular octagonal brick structure, half under and half above ground, that enclosed another circular structure called the ice room. The purpose of the double-walled structure was to store ice in the middle and store and preserve perishable food and medicine at the outer side of the ice room. During World War II, major portions of the hospital and the above-ground section of the ice house was bombed and heavily damaged. Later, in 1962, the hospital was restored and rehabilitated into a university, with the plan to conceal the ice house's remaining structure in the courtyard, which ultimately was excavated and incorporated into a new library for the university. A team of engineers, architects, and students from Politecnico di Milano and Carleton University conducted two heritage recording surveys in 2015 and 2016 to fully document the existing condition of the ice house, resulting in an inclusive laser scanner and photogrammetric point cloud dataset. The point cloud data was consolidated and imported into two leading parametric modelling software, Autodesk Revit© and Graphisoft ArchiCAD©, with the goal to develop two BIMs in parallel in order to study and compare the software BIM workflow, parametric capabilities, attributes to capture the complex geometry with high accuracy, and the duration for parametric modelling. The comparison study of the two software revealed their workflow limitations, leading to integration of the BIM generative process with other pure modelling software such as Rhinoceros©. The integrative BIM process led to the production of a comprehensive BIM model that documented related historic data and the existing physical state of the ice house, to be used as a baseline for preventive maintenance, monitoring, and future conservation projects

Metric documentation of cultural heritage: Research directions from the Italian gamher project

GAMHer is a collaborative project that aims at exploiting and validating Geomatics algorithms, methodologies and procedures in the framework of new European regulations, which require a more extensive and productive use of digital information, as requested by the Digital Agenda for Europe as one of the seven pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy. To this aim, GAMHer focuses on the need of a certified accuracy for surveying and monitoring projects with photogrammetry and laser scanning technologies, especially when used in a multiscale approach for landscape and built heritage documentation, conservation, and management. The approach used follows a multi-LoD (level of detail) transition that exploits GIS systems at the landscape scale, BIM technology and "point cloud based" 3d modelling for the scale of the building, and an innovative BIM/GIS integrated approach to foster innovation, promote users' collaboration and encourage communication between users. The outcomes of GAMHer are not intended to be used only by a community of Geomatics specialists, but also by a heterogeneous user community that exploit images and laser scans in their professional activities

METRIC DOCUMENTATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: RESEARCH DIRECTIONS FROM THE ITALIAN GAMHER PROJECT

GAMHer is a collaborative project that aims at exploiting and validating Geomatics algorithms, methodologies and procedures in the framework of new European regulations, which require a more extensive and productive use of digital information, as requested by the Digital Agenda for Europe as one of the seven pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy. To this aim, GAMHer focuses on the need of a certified accuracy for surveying and monitoring projects with photogrammetry and laser scanning technologies, especially when used in a multiscale approach for landscape and built heritage documentation, conservation, and management. The approach used follows a multi-LoD (level of detail) transition that exploits GIS systems at the landscape scale, BIM technology and "point cloud based" 3d modelling for the scale of the building, and an innovative BIM/GIS integrated approach to foster innovation, promote users' collaboration and encourage communication between users. The outcomes of GAMHer are not intended to be used only by a community of Geomatics specialists, but also by a heterogeneous user community that exploit images and laser scans in their professional activities

Semi-automated creation of accurate FEM meshes of heritage masonry walls from point cloud data

The structural analysis of buildings requires accurate spatial models. Additionally, pathologies such as settlement-induced damages are paramount in the assessment of heritage assets. This spatial information is used as a basis for Finite Element Method (FEM) meshes to evaluate the stability of the structure. Traditional data acquisition approaches rely on manual measurements which are labor intensive and error prone. Therefore, major simplifications are made to document structures efficiently. The goal of this research is to provide faster and more accurate procedures to capture the spatial information required by a FEM. This paper presents a semi-automated approach to create accurate models of complex heritage buildings for the purpose of structural analysis. By employing non-destructive techniques such as terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry, a complex mesh of the structure is created. Also, a methodology is proposed to capture crack information. A stepwise approach is elaborated to illustrate how the spatial information is adapted towards a FEM mesh. The results show a significant difference between the geometry our model and a traditional wire- frame model. Not only does accurate modelling result in deviating loads, it also affects the behavior of the object. Through the proposed approach, experts can develop highly accurate FEM meshes to assess the stability of the structure up to as-built conditionsPostprint (published version

Point clouds turned into finite elements: The umbrella vault of Castel Masegra

The paper presents a workflow for finite element model generation from point clouds acquired via photogrammetry and laser scanning. The case study is a room with an umbrella vault in Castel Masegra, located in Sondrio (Italy). The complexity of the room required an accurate geometric survey from a set of dense point clouds, from which a detailed BIM as well as 2D drawings were generated. Finally, a tetrahedral mesh was derived from the geometric model and was used to run a finite element analysis. The aim of this work is to describe the procedure developed and illustrate the main challenges found

O SERVIÇO DE ASSISTÊNCIA À CONSTRUÇÃO CIVIL PROFª. DACILA VITOLA E SUAS CONTRIBUIÇÕES SOCIAIS ÀS COMUNIDADES

Criado em 1982, o Serviço de Assistência à Construção Civil Profª. Dacila Vitola (SAsCC), é um programa vinculado à Escola de Engenharia (EE) da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), que atua com projetos de ensino, pesquisa e extensão. Atualmente, o SAsCC trabalha sob formato de escritório modelo de engenharia, através de uma infraestrutura disponibilizada pela universidade. Sua composição se dá por alunos dos cursos de engenharia civil, que atuam como bolsistas ou voluntários, uma técnica de laboratório da área de edificações, e duas coordenadoras responsáveis pelo programa. Desde a sua criação, a maior demanda de atividades realizadas pelo SAsCC corresponde a seu viés de projeto de extensão. Dessa forma, é prestada assistência técnica à comunidade do Rio Grande através de auxílio nos processos de regularização de imóveis, no que diz respeito à moradia e à propriedade. O serviço é destinado aos indivíduos economicamente hipossuficientes que recebem apoio gratuito do programa. A avaliação quanto ao desempenho do serviço prestado e dos membros participantes se dá através de reuniões periódicas onde os grupos temáticos expõem o andamento respectivo de cada grupo, a fim de aprimorar continuamente a qualidade do programa. Além de atuar como suporte para a comunidade externa à universidade, o SAsCC também colabora com o desenvolvimento pessoal e profissional dos alunos que participam junto ao programa. Seu grande diferencial se dá pela promoção de ações sociais, junto a estimulação do trabalho voluntário, abordando uma perspectiva de realidade que não é vivenciada na graduação. Por ser um dos poucos projetos de extensão universitária dessa natureza na região, o SAsCC possuiu grande valor e importância para a cidade do Rio Grande, visto que o serviço prestado colabora tanto para o desenvolvimento da cidade, quanto na qualidade de vida da população

THE GAMHER RESEARCH PROJECT FOR METRIC DOCUMENTATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

GAMHer (Geomatics data Acquisition and Management for landscape and built Heritage in a European perspective) is a three-year research project financed under the Italian PRIN 2015 framework (Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale). The project, started in February 2017 under the University of Bologna coordination, links other 5 Italian research groups mainly involved in Cultural Heritage (CH) documentation and data management: Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, IUAV Venice, University of Florence, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio and University of Bergamo.GAMHer aims at exploiting some research and practical challenges in those disciplines devoted to generate 3D models for objects related to both landscape and built heritage; primary focus is then on digital photogrammetry and 3D scanning. These techniques are more and more applied in different contexts, having as the main subjects monuments, buildings, natural and urban landscapes. Some critical points however remain for their implementation, also facing to the new European directives, strictly connected to the requirement of the Digital Agenda for Europe. A wider use of digital data has to be achieved, in Europe as well as internationally, and therefore an analysis of the current developments is significant, together with a critical assessment of their performances.</p

Integration of terrestrial and UAV photogrammetry for the assessment of collapse risk in Alpine glaciers

The application of Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry with ground-based and UAV-based camera stations can be effectively exploited for modeling the topographic surface of Alpine glaciers. Multi-temporal repeated surveys may lead to geometric models that may be applied to analyze the glacier retreat under global warming conditions. Here the case study of Forni Glacier in the Italian Alps is presented. Thanks to the integration of point clouds obtained from the independent photogrammetric processing of ground-based and UAV blocks of images (captured on 2016), a complete 3D reconstruction also including vertical and sub-vertical surfaces has been achieved. This 3D model, compared to a second model obtained from a ground-based photogrammetric survey on September 2017, has been exploited to understand the precursory signal of a big collapse that might have involved tourists and hikers visiting the glacier ice tongue during summer. In addition to some technical aspects related to the acquisition and processing of photogrammetric data of glaciers, this paper highlights how Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry may help evaluate the risk of collapse in Alpine glaciers

Technical aspects related to the application of sfm photogrammetry in high mountain

Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry is a flexible and powerful tool to provide 3D point clouds describing the surface of objects. Due to the easy transportability and low-cost of necessary equipment with respect to laser scanning techniques, SfM photogrammetry has great potential to be applied in harsh high-mountain environment. Here point clouds and derived by-products (DEM's, orthoimages, Virtual-Reality models) are needed to document surface morphology and to investigate dynamic processes such as landslides, avalanches, river and soil erosion, glacier retreat. On the other hand, from both the literature and the direct experience of the authors, there are some technical issues that still deserve thorough investigations. The paper would like to address some open problems and suggest solutions, in particular on regards of the photogrammetric network design, the strategy for georeferencing the final products, and for their comparison within time. The discussion is documented with some examples, mainly from surveying campaigns at the Forni Glacier in Italian Alps