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3D Electrical Resistivity Tomography for Noninvasive Characterization of Historical Walls

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Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis

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Abstract

Electrical resistivity is an important physical property that controls current flow in both natural and man-made materials. This property being sensitive to mineralogy, texture (porosity), fabric, and saturation can easily capture volume contrasts in the investigated material. This capability makes its utilization in the investigation of historical walls a powerful noninvasive tool that can show more insight on possible presence of invisible internal defects as well as on providing bulk information showing the internal distribution of mortar being employed by many engineers for consolidation. The large difference in resistivity values of mortar with respect to the building materials (cemented natural and/or artificial blocks) makes the application of the resistivity method feasible in view of recent advances in hardware and software technologies. This allows for the achievement of detailed 3D resistivity volumes of the otherwise inaccessible internal structure of the historical wall. In this chapter, the geoelectrical resistivity method and the electrical properties of the mortar used in consolidation will be introduced. In addition, two case studies from Italy will be presented.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Alternate current

DC:

Direct current

ERT :

Electrical resistivity tomography

GPR:

Ground penetrating radar

IP:

Induced polarization

k :

Geometric factor of an electrode array

NDT:

Nondestructive testing (used principally by engineering when dealing with indirect investigation of built structures)

ΔV :

Electric potential drop

λ:

Electrical anisotropy coefficient

ρ a :

Apparent resistivity

ρ :

Electrical resistivity

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Nasser Abu Zeid

Authors
  1. Nasser Abu Zeid
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Correspondence to Nasser Abu Zeid .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Sebastiano D'Amico

  2. University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Valentina Venuti

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Abu Zeid, N. (2022). 3D Electrical Resistivity Tomography for Noninvasive Characterization of Historical Walls. In: D'Amico, S., Venuti, V. (eds) Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60016-7_28

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