Remote sensing data to support the structural monitoring of RC buildings affected by ground instability phenomena

The building stock around the world is exposed to different types of natural actions such as earthquakes or landslides. Italy is one of the countries worldwide most affected by landslides. Mitigation of landslide risk is a topic of great interest with specific focusing on the assessment and management of their consequences. The periodical monitoring of ground instability phenomena and the field surveys for recognizing and identifying the landslide-induced damage on structures and infrastructures, require high costs due to the large amounts of exposed elements. As known from literature, slow-moving landslides can lead to a progressive damage over time. With respect to the Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures, these actions can affect primary structural elements, but more frequently damage occurs on the most vulnerable elements of the structure, such as infills. The aim of this work is to assess the potential utility of the data derived from a remote sensing technique, known as Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR), in order to support the structural health monitoring of RC buildings affected by slow-moving landslides. The paper shows the assessment of the structural behaviour of a RC infilled building through the years and with the progression of the damage, within a landslide affected area and monitored by using DInSAR data. The evidence of a visual survey made in 2015 was available, showing a significant damage pattern in some infill panels. A good agreement has been found between the analytical previsions and the existing damage pattern for the infills of which a visual survey existed, showing the potential use of the remote sensing technique data in order to make a structural assessment. Moreover, an overall analytical assessment of all infills' state of health has been presented, in order to have a complete picture of the damage situation.