Evaluation of the state of conservation of mosaics: Simulations and thermographic signal processing

Nondestructive inspection of mosaic structures is not a novelty in the thermographic scene. Interesting works can be retrieved from scientific literature, some of them dedicated to the use of static active configurations and/or the passive approach for the inspection of plastered mosaics or the assessment of mosaic floors. In the present study, a mosaic made by synthetic tesserae of different colors depicting a dove was inspected by active thermography using a static configuration. The mosaic was manufactured with artificial defects positioned at several depths and locations, where some of them, due to their dynamic nature, enabled the monitoring of their thermal effects over time. In particular, the mosaic contains: a void into which compressed air can be injected, a sponge insert that can be soaked by a known quantity of water through an external tube, and a sub-superficial recirculation circuit from which a stream of cold or hot water can flow. The variability of the nature of these defects, simulating what happens in a real case, was conveniently modeled by numerical simulation approaches. The latter point was assessed through the aid of a simulation software, while the comparison of the results obtained by numerical analysis with those derived by thermographic testing was also performed.