Advanced non-destructive techniques for the diagnosis of historic buildings: The Loka-Hteik-Pan temple in Bagan

Abstract

The archaeological site of Old Bagan, located in the centre of Myanmar, is one of the most remarkable and ancient Asian site with over three thousand monuments, scattered in an area of about 80 km(2). The site was hit in 2016 by the last of a series of earthquakes. The Loka-Hteik-Pan is a hollow-core temple featured by a small elegant curvilinear tower. It was significantly damaged by the event, losing the upper part of the tower, as many other temples of the area. Emergencies like seismic events generally require quick responses and targeted solutions. When a built area is involved, damaged buildings need structural assessments with a special focus on space and time occupancy, without compromising the reliability of the results. A workflow for data acquisition and analysis is proposed, using non-destructive techniques to evaluate the materials performances and measure spatial changes over times. Deformation analysis is performed on LiDAR data, acquired prior and after the earthquake, with the goal of measuring small changes occurred in the wall surfaces. The preliminary results of the tests are presented with the purpose to provide a knowledge base, useful to guide the interventions for preserving the monument and its heritage.