Integration of Multi-source Data to Infer Effects of Gradual Natural Phenomena on Structures

In Structural Health Monitoring for a real understanding of the changes taking place and their effects on the structural integrity of the built environment, sometimes it is necessary to move to long observation times. This follows the axioms of SHM, which identify a certain relationship between the frequency and time of observation and the extent (and therefore severity) of ongoing damage. For this reason, in the present paper, interferometric displacement satellite data acquired for a decade on the territory of the city of Rome (Italy) are investigated and correlated to natural phenomena. The paper critically analyzes the possibility of a relationship between these phenomena and satellite data in order to bring out a common pattern. The study of natural and anthropogenic phenomena in the same frequency bandwidth as the interferometric satellite data would therefore be useful for recognizing potential triggering causes of higher frequency phenomena, which could appear as sudden and unstable phenomena if observed with shorter times. In the paper, the authors first make a comparison between natural phenomena and satellite data on a territorial scale and then focus on a series of isolated case studies (single structures and infrastructures).