Structural health monitoring of the Holy Aedicule in Jerusalem

摘要

The Holy Aedicule situated inside the Church of the Resurrection in the Old City of Jerusalem is the holiest Christian site in the world. For ensuring the sustainability of the Holy Aedicule, continuous, as well as periodic, monitoring using advanced equipment is crucial. The structural health monitoring process, as part of an overall management plan, will contribute in real time, through appropriate risk analysis and documentation, so that all relevant Christian Communities can take appropriate measures for the preservation of the structure. This paper describes the monitoring project and the equipment installed at the site during the restoration works. Main risks identified by the diagnostic campaign were tomb microclimatic variations as a result of the enormous number of visitors and Jerusalem climatic data, rising damp, seismic hazard, and structure movements during and after the completion of the restoration works. The installed instrumentation includes air temperature and relative humidity sensors, moisture content sensors for masonry materials, and a geodetic total station and a network of accelerometers for the continuous monitoring of the static and dynamic behavior of the monument, respectively. Thus, the remote monitoring and assessment of various risks to the monument is possible in real time.