ISPRS-Annals ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ISPRS-Annals ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. 2194-9050 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/isprs-annals-IV-2-W2-243-2017 DIGITAL RECORDING AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE TECHNIQUES FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE FOR REHABILITATING HISTORIC STRUCTURES AT THE KATHMANDU VALLEY AFTER GORKHA EARTHQUAKE 2015 Shrestha S. 1 Reina Ortiz M. 1 Gutland M. 2 Napolitano R. 3 Morris I. M. 3 Santana Quintero M. 4 Erochko J. 2 Kawan S. 5 Shrestha R. G. 6 Awal P. 7 Suwal S. 8 Duwal S. 8 Maharjan D. K. 9 Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS), Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by drive, Ottawa, On, K1S 5B6 Canada Department of Civil and Env. Engineering, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by drive, Ottawa, On, K1S 5B6 Canada Department of Civil and Env. Engineering, Princeton University, E-208 E-Quad Princeton, NJ 08544, USA Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS), 1125 Colonel by drive, Ottawa, On, K1S 5B6 Canada Nepal Engineering College Bhaktapur Municipality UNESCO Kathmandu Office Khwopa Engineering College National Society of Earthquake Technology 17 08 2017 IV-2/W2 243 250 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/isprs-annals-IV-2-W2-243-2017.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/isprs-annals-IV-2-W2-243-2017.pdf

On 25 April 2015, the Gorkha earthquake of magnitude 7.8, severely damaged the cultural heritage sites of Nepal. In particular, the seven monument zones of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site suffered extensive damage. Out of 195 surveyed monuments, 38 have completely collapsed and 157 partially damaged (DoA, 2015). In particular, the world historic city of Bhaktapur was heavily affected by the earthquake. There is, in general, a lack of knowledge regarding the traditional construction technology used in many of the most important temple monuments in Bhaktapur. To address this limitation and to assist in reconstruction and rehabilitation of the area, this study documents the existing condition of different historic structures in the Kathmandu Valley. In particular, the Nyatapola Temple is studied in detail. To record and document the condition of this temple, a combination of laser scanning and terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry are used. By also including evaluation of the temple and its supporting plinth structure using non-destructive evaluation techniques like geo-radar and micro-tremor dynamic analysis, this study will form the basis of a structural analysis study to assess the anticipated future seismic performance of the Nyatapola Temple.