Digital surveying and 3D modelling structural shape pipelines for instability monitoring in historical buildings: a strategy of versatile mesh models for ruined and endangered heritage

Abstract

Cultural heritage and the attendant variety of built heritage demands a scientific approach from European committees: one related to the difficulties in its protection and management. This is primarily due to the lack of emergency protocols related to the structural knowledge and documentation pertaining to architecture and its ruins, specifically in terms of the goals of protection and intervention for endangered heritage affected by mechanical instabilities. Here, we focus on a rapid and reliable structural documentation pipeline for application to historical built heritage, and we introduce a case study of the Church of the Annunciation in Pokcha, Russia, while we also review the incorporation of integrated 3D survey products into reality-based models. This practice increases the possibility of systematising data through methodological phases and controlling the quality of numerical components into 3D polygonal meshes, with millimetric levels of detail and triangulation through the integration of terrestrial laser scanner and unmanned aerial vehicle survey data. These models are aimed at emphasising morphological qualities related to structural behaviour, thus highlighting areas of deformation and instability of the architectural system for analysis via computational platforms in view of obtaining information related to tensional behaviour and emergency risks.