Structure From Motion Survey of Statue for Finite Element Modelling

Abstract

Iconic sculptures are a fundamental part of the cultural heritage of a country, being also a crucial tourism pull factor for the museums housing them. However, they are frequently rather antique, damaged during the elapsed centuries and often made of fragile materials. Moreover, they can be exposed to substantial natural and anthropic hazards, such as earthquake and traffic vibrations. This is also the case of the "Sarcophagus of the Spouses" at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, Italy, which is exposed to the vibrations generated by a surface tramway line and an underground railway line. The multidisciplinary MONALISA project will design a base isolation system starting from the finite element modelling of the statue, whose geometry is however rather complex and whose location is within a glass case. Therefore, a contactless survey procedure was necessary and a low-cost structure from motion technique delivered a geometric mesh, which was revised and simplified to be imported in a finite element code. The finite element model was then used to perform preliminary dynamic modal analyses, to be further calibrated with ambient vibration data.