Topographic monitoring of the Costa Concordia vessel wreck

Background

Following the run aground off near the “Isola del Giglio” (Tuscany, Italy, January 13, 2012) of the cruise vessel “Costa Concordia”, a monitoring system for handling the security of the SAR (Search and Rescue) operations and for the control of the ships’ movements/deformations during the subsequent defueling and recovery phases has been progressively installed and improved.

Purpose

The main goal of the project was to identify and intepret dislpacements/deformation of the vessel wreck to support the recovery operations.

Methods

CNR IRPI has installed, in collaboration with Leica Geosystems, a monitoring network based on two Robotic Total Stations (RTS) to measure movements and deformation of the emerged portion of the hull. The network was composed of 23 prisms (targets) installed on the ship, along with a reference points system for measurement compensation. The system works H24 operative and the availability of punctual tridimensional data with a high sampling frequency and high precision have made the network one of the key elements for the comprehension of the hull’s movements.