A complete methodology for the mechanical diagnosis of statue provided by innovative uses of 3D model. Application to the imperial marble statue of Alba-la-Romaine (France)

A multidisciplinary methodology is presented to assess the mechanical behaviour of a marble statue with complex fracture plans and localized cracks. First, a 3D model is generated by photogrammetry. Its underlying geometrical data provide valuable insight for the physical characterisation and the numerical analysis. Indeed, the ultrasound analysis, which is usually impossible on such a complex shape, is achieved thanks to the accurate measures of distance between transmitter and receiver obtained from the 3D geometrical model. Finally, an innovative use of FEM/DEM analysis is proposed to evaluate the mechanical relevance of a non-destructive basing system. Reflecting the advances of this collective work, the resulting pedestal solution is non-conventional since it is safe, not invasive and totally reversible. A particular attention is paid to use mainly open-source numerical tools from 3D acquisition through mechanical analysis in order to enable the reproducibility of the process.