USE OF SATELLITE INTERFEROMETRY IN STRUCTURAL FO- RENSIC ENGINEERING PROBLEMS

Structural health monitoring of existing structures and infrastructures based on satellite in- terferometry is becoming a gaining task. In the field of structural engineering, satellite data have a wide application field ranging from the monitoring of the serviceability displace- ments of structures (and of the ground surface) during the time, up to the detection of their damage states evolution. Thus, satellite data can support structural forensic engineering ac- tivities both in preventing failures and in investigating the causes of collapse of structures and infrastructures. In such a context, scientific studies aimed at developing procedures and methodologies for post-processing of raw data coming from satellite acquisitions around the earth (both in ascending and descending orbits) were developed in the last years. On the other side - from an engineering standpoint - issues related to data availability, their con- sistency and effectiveness (i.e., coherence, band length of satellite, loss of point scatterers, etc.), post-processing algorithms of the raw data and even more to their interpretation in structural applications emerge from the literature. In this paper, attention is paid to the po- tential support of interferometry satellite in the identification of structural damage on build- ings and structures associated with ground deformation. After a brief introduction, an ex- planatory case has been illustrated and discussed in detail. In particular, opportunities of- fered by a fully remote procedure for damage detection of buildings given by the integra- tion between satellite interferometry and web-based inspections are explored.