Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS).The book covers a broad range of topics regarding the assessment and conservation of timber structures, with papers subdivided into ten themes: ...Assessment and conservation; Timber grading; Assessment by non-destructive methods and survey techniques; Assessment by testing and modeling; Reinforcement and treatment of timber elements; Strengthening of connections; Upgrading of timber structures; Monitoring; Learning from case studies; Codes and guidelines. The book will be of valuable use and precious help for consultants, specialists, practitioners as well as for researchers and scholars for what concerns assessment, conservation, repair and monitoring of timber structures and wood artifacts.The conference is held in light of economic, environmental, and safety reasons for assessing the structural health of wooden structures and extending their service life if possible. The 138 papers cover assessment and conservation, timber grading, assessment by non-destructive methods and survey techniques, testing and modeling, reinforcing and treating timber elements, strengthening connections, upgrading timber structures, monitoring, learning from case studies, and codes and guidelines. Among the topics are database research and development for visualizing invisible parts of wooden houses in Japan, a microwave reflectometric tool for the non-destructive assessment of decay in historic buildings, assessing damage and estimating residual service life of cracked timber beams, some Portuguese case studies of solutions for rehabilitating wooden structures, the influence of faulty 19th-century technical solutions on a work of 18th-century rafter framing as exemplified by a church in Nowy Kosciol in Poland, and classification criteria for the seismic vulnerability of timber roof structures.
Selected, peer reviewed papers from the 2nd International Conference on Structural Health Assessment of Timber Structures (SHATIS 13), September 4-6, 2013, Trento, Italy.
Summary
Examining the timber structure supporting the roof of Giotto's bell tower in Florence, this paper discusses the combination of non‐destructive (NDT), wave‐based methods for the ...characterization of timber structural elements. In particular, it analyses the on‐site applicability of selected wave‐based techniques for the identification of decay, damage, defects, and moist areas in structural timber. The applied NDT techniques are IR termography, microwave reflectometry, time‐of‐flight tomography, and mapping by means of elastic waves. Experimental results are compared with data obtained by means of consolidated NDT techniques, such as the electric resistance method for moisture content estimation and the drill‐resistance test for decay characterization. These can be considered non‐destructive, although they are invasive. The wave‐based NDT methods are found to be a value‐added complement to routine methodologies for a holistic diagnosis of timber members. Normal practice based on visual inspection, decay detection through point measurements of drill resistance, and moisture content estimation through local readings of electric resistance, can be substantially improved through full‐field, multi‐sensor, multi‐resolution imaging. Nevertheless, while the diverse NDT methods illustrated here can be useful for screening large areas in a completely non‐invasive way, local measurements (i.e., the drill resistance and the electric resistance measurements) are still necessary.
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