Point cloud exploitation for structural modeling and analysis: A reliable workflow

Abstract

The digitization and geometric knowledge of the historical built heritage is currently based on point cloud, that rarely or only partially is used as digital twin for structural analysis. The present work deals with historical artefacts survey, with particular reference to masonry structures, aimed to their structural analysis and assessment. In detail, the study proposes a methodology capable of employing semi-directly the original data obtained from the 3D digital survey for the generation of a Finite Element Model (FEM), used for structural analysis of masonry buildings.The methodology described presents a reliable workflow with twofold purpose: the improvement of the transformation process of the point cloud in solid and subsequently obtain a high-quality and detailed model for structural analyses.Through the application of the methodology to a case study, the method consistency was assessed, regarding the smoothness of the whole procedure and the dynamic characterization of the Finite Element Model. The main improvement in respect with similar or our previous workflows is obtained by the introduction of the retopology in data processing, allowing the transformation of the raw data into a solid model with optimal balancing between Level of Detail (LOD) and computational weight. Another significant aspect of the optimized process is undoubtedly the possibility of faithfully respecting the semantics of the structure, leading to the discretization of the model into different parts depending on the materials. This work may represent an excellent reference for the study of masonry artefacts belonging to the existing historical heritage, starting from surveys and with the purpose to structural and seismic evaluations, in the general framework of knowledge-based preservation of heritage.