The Key Role of Structural Health Monitoring as a Control Tool in the Post-earthquake Recovery Phase of Damaged Heritage Buildings: The Case Study of “Collegiata di Santa Maria” in Visso, Italy

This chapter introduces the subject of structural health monitoring (SHM) and discusses its important role in the post-earthquake assessment of damaged built heritage. The first part of the chapter describes the SHM operational workflow and provides practical advices for each of the different stages composing the procedure, while the second part exemplifies a real case-study application. The investigated structure is a cultural heritage building severely damaged by the Central Italy seismic sequence of 2016–2017. The steps leading to the design of the SHM system architecture installed in the building and to the definition of the most appropriate sensor network topology are presented, along with a preliminary insight into selected results that will act as comparative baseline information throughout the post-earthquake recovery phase of the monitored structure until completion of the restoration process.