Validating Computational Models from Laser Scanning Data for Historic Facades

Increasingly, remote sensing is being used as the basis for computational models. With new approaches rapidly emerging, questions arise as to how to validate and assess the resulting models, as they tend to include at least some level of geometric inexactitude. This paper proposes a set of parameters and procedures for evaluating the usefulness of computational models for structural analysis of historic facades subjected to adjacent construction work. To test the usability of such an approach, three brick buildings were scanned with a terrestrial laser scanner. The data were processed with a recently proposed set of algorithms, and the reliability of the resulting solid models was evaluated by comparing finite-element results from auto-generated solid models versus those based on measured drawings. The proposed validation process considers overall response, as well as local behavior. The results show the importance of using both conventional values and project specific parameters.