Control of deformation of buildings affected by subsidence using persistent scatterer interferometry

In this article, satellite radar data are analysed to control the deformation of the buildings of Murcia City (SE Spain) affected by subsidence. This phenomenon has occurred as a result of groundwater overexploitation in drought periods, and special attention is paid to the most recent drought which occurred between 2005 and 2008. In the first part of this work, the study area is presented followed by a description of the characteristics and effects of subsidence on the buildings of the urban area. Persistent scatterer interferometry is used to process a satellite base radar dataset measuring the temporal and the spatial evolution of subsidence. These results are analysed with respect to several factors that control subsidence mechanisms: water table decrease, thickness of the compressible layer and the type of foundation of the buildings. To validate these results, a detailed structural damage analysis of several buildings is presented. According to the results presented in this work, it may be concluded that damage of buildings is triggered by soil consolidation due to groundwater overexploitation, demonstrating that the inclusion of this technique can be particularly interesting in structural monitoring framework of civil infrastructures, as a complementary tool to control subsidence damage.