Deformation measurements of the Vasa ship
Deformation measurements of the Vasa ship since 2000. Funded by the Vasa Museum.
The warship Vasa was lost on her first voyage in 1628. She was lying in 30 m depth until 1961. Since then she has become one of the greatest attractions of Stockholm. Many conservation procedures have been performed with the goal to preserve her “forever”. As a part of this effort it is necessary to monitor the changes in the shape of the hull and some other parts of the ship. Within this project we have established a geodetic system based on total station measurement of a set of points marked by reflective tape. The measurements are related to a reference network realised by corner prisms firmly mounted on the walls of the museum building. The measurement procedure is automated with a minimum of operator input. The system is able to detect less than 1 mm changes.
All points are measured twice per year since the year 2000. The results show, that the hull is sinking with the rate of several mm per year.
More information can be found here: www.vasamuseet.se/en/research/support-vasa/deformation-monitoring
