Multisensors for BIM modeling and digital twinning of historical buildings: preliminary results on Circus of Maxentius in Rome

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a software-based parametric design approach that enables complete interoperability between all of the various actors engaged in a design or management process. Notwithstanding it was particularly developed for construction projects, it has since been applied to a variety of fields, including the design of transportation infrastructures and, more recently, cultural heritage. It has primarily been used in this area to improve the accuracy and efficiency of activities aimed at stabilizing and restoring historical structures. The purpose of the current study is to show how BIM is implemented by multisensors date and how the use of BIM can significantly raise the quality of virtual reconstructions and digital valorizations of historical structures, particularly when the rate of conservation is low. In spite of the fact that modern digital reconstruction models are frequently examined from an archaeological standpoint, their structural coherence has never been examined. This implies that many virtual models are likely to depict historically reliable structures that, due to their lack of structural logic, would not support their weight according to their geometric features and construction methods/materials. The research suggests a novel BIM-based methodology capable of both guiding and structurally testing archaeological reconstruction theories. The following procedure can serve as a broad representation of the model: 1- Multisensors survey of the emerging: gathering information from cursory historical investigations (topographic data, laser scanner, aero photogrammetry, satellite images) 2- Multisensors survey of the hidden: gathering information from ground-penetrating radar, electrical tomography, and magnetometry hypogeal scans; 3- Mechanical characterization: collecting data on the materials used in the discovery and confirming their mechanical properties through load stress tests; 4- Virtual reconstruction: the formulation of a potential hypothesis related to structural and morphological characteristics that are known to have existed during the referred historical eras; 5- Structural test: engineering and structural verification of the proposed theory using finite element algorithms and graphic statics techniques. In the framework of the Project BIMHERIT, funded by Regione Lazio, the proposed methodology was tested at a preliminary stage on the archaeological site of the Villa and Circus of Maxentius along the Ancient Appian Way in Rome. All planned activities have been shared with and authorized by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (DTC Lazio Call, Prot. 305-2020-35609).