Diagnosing Ancient Monuments with Expert Software

Abstract

After the 1989 collapse of the Civic Tower of Pavia, Italy, the Italian government appointed a scientific committee to analyse the causes of the collapse and to check the state of other monuments in Pavia. The masonry structures were carefully surveyed and subjected to a variety of in-situ and laboratory tests and stress analyses using finite element models. An extensive monitoring system was developed and installed in the Cathedral and six medieval towers. Data collected by monitoring was processed and interpreted to verify the behaviour of each structure, and an expert system for on-line management and interpretation (KALEIDOS) was developed.