Application of Infrared Thermography for the survey of intensely jointed rock slopes

The application of Infrared Thermography is here proposed as a usefultool for the remote survey of intensely jointed rock slopes. Although sucha technique is widely used in several scientific fields, its direct applicationfor the evaluation of the degree of fracturing in bare rock masses is still apioneering methodology. To test and validate its application, tworepresentative rock masses of different lithologies have been chosen in thesouthern sector of Peloritani Mountains (north-eastern Sicily). Thermalimages were taken during three moments of the same day, to study thethermal behavior of the rock under heating and cooling conditions.Results show interesting matches between some geostructural featuresand thermal outputs, demonstrating the reliability of such amethodology, which can also allow the extension of the survey toportions of the slope that are not directly reachable