Non-Contact Diagnostics of the Geometry of a Historic Wooden Building as an Element of Periodic Safety Assessment

Abstract

The article presents a method of non-invasive diagnostics of a historic wooden church, built in the 18th century. Over the hundreds of years of its use, changes in the geometry of the structure have been observed. This article presents the requirements of so-called architectural and geodetic survey and the method of using terrestrial laser scanning to create a three-dimensional solid model of an object. The diagnostic tests performed made it possible to perform analysis based on a so-called point cloud, which is a virtual representation of a real object. In order to determine the basic parameters of the building, the area and volume of all rooms were determined. It was found that the object exhibited deformations that cannot be explained solely as a result of imperfections during climb and normal wear and tear during operation. Therefore, the changes in shape were assessed in detail by means of an assessment of the verticality of the pillars supporting two levels of the church, the verticality of the walls, and the inconsistency of the floors, as well as the shape and horizontality of the roof edge. Additional InSAR and FEM tests of the object’s location on the ground allowed identification of the cause of the object deformation as the influence of inhomogeneous groundwater relations under the building. Without prophylactic measures, this deformation phenomenon can be expected to worsen. The tests described should therefore be considered as essential in subsequent diagnostic cycles and permit future extended numerical FEM analysis.