Integrated control in monitoring historic buildings; the case of wall structures of Palazzo Ducale in Venice

This paper deals with in situ assessment of safety and state of preservation of historic buildings. This is a current issue since the need for reliability analysis of historic buildings is nowadays becoming more and more urgent. At the same time, monitoring techniques are continuously evolving. The research group CdSM of the University IUAV of Venice sets up an integrated procedure for non-destructive and microdestructive control aimed to locate possible weaknesses in the façades of Palazzo Ducale, in Venice. This is a delicate issue, because the building is very complex and deserves non-destructive diagnostics to be planned; moreover, a stone element has recently fallen from the south façade in a sudden and unexpected way. This paper illustrates the proposed methodologies for the integrated monitoring the wall structures of Palazzo Ducale, in particular those related to the assessment of the façades’ state of preservation and to integrated experimental and analytical procedures, and illustrates the expected outcomes.