Method and system for monitoring a building structure

Abstract

A system for monitoring a building structure is described. The system comprises a laser source which emits an infrared radiation and an interferometric arrangement which divides the radiation into an object beam and a reference beam. The object beam irradiates the building structure and is scattered by it, while the reference beam interferes with the scattered object beam so as to create a hologram of the building. The system also comprises a sensor which detects a sequence of holograms and a processing unit which reconstructs the evolution in time of deformations or displacements of the building by numerically processing the sequence of holograms. The system—being based on digital holography—offers various advantages compared to known monitoring techniques, for example techniques which make use of seismometers (possibility of remote monitoring, substantial space-time continuity of the monitoring, capacity for detecting a wider range of deformations and displacements).

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