Structural assessment of complex historical buildings using HBIM for integrated diagnosis-aided information modeling and management = Structural assessment of complex historical buildings using HBIM for integrated diagnosis-aided information modeling and management

The preservation of architectural heritage is of worldwide interest for multiple reasons, from recognising the historical relevance of the manufacture and the intention to keep it alive for the next generations, fitting the cultural benefit of keeping the society's connection to their origins, to the economics and environmental purposes. Indeed, the conservation of the architectural heritage leads to value empowerment of the structure itself and the surrounding’s one, and the choice of its maintenance rather than building a new one allows for energy safe and limits construction waste in general. The assessment and retrofitting of existing structures are challenging multidisciplinary activities concerning various knowledge and expertise, with the common intent to rehabilitate the structure fulfilling the in-force standards. During the digitalisation century, each discipline is affected by this phenomenon; the rise of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is enhancing the industrialization of the architecture, engineering, and construction sector, this methodology conceived for new structures, allows to store, process, and share, multidiscipline data in a unique container. This advantage in managing information in an integrated manner, in agreement with the actual needs of structural rehabilitation and maintenance, has been extended to the existing structures, giving rise to the Heritage BIM (HBIM). The focus of the current thesis is to pursue the HBIM methodology in the context of the structural assessment of a prestigious building of the 20th century, the Turin Exhibition Centre. Engineer Pier Luigi Nervi is the designer and builder of this iconic structure conceived in the years after the II World War. The case study is Hall B, realised in 1948, and the adjacent Hall C, built two years later in 1950, where he applied new construction procedures successfully experimented in some previous projects. Concerning Hall C, the HBIM workflow was finalised to a FEM structural analysis, integrating historical documentations, geomatic survey, and available results from in situ inspections. As regards Hall B, the BIM methodology have the different purpose of defining a BIM object of a representative structural element, on the base of the original documentation, then updated in compliance with results of the testing campaign, which are directly integrated in the model, making such information the baseline for a proper preservation and conservation management plan.