Lecturer: Stefano Sibilla  

Course name: Environmental hydraulics
Course code: 503012
Degree course: Ingegneria per l'Ambiente e il Territorio
Disciplinary field of science: ICAR/01
L'insegnamento è caratterizzante per: Ingegneria per l'Ambiente e il Territorio
University credits: CFU 6
Course website: n.d.

Specific course objectives

The course deals with the fundamentals of free-surface flows in natural channels, in steady and un steady conditions. Particular emphasis will be put on the determination of solid transport and on the development of numerical models for flood routing.

Course programme

Liquid mechanics
Mass and momentum conservation. Viscous stress: Navier-Stokes equations. Turbulent flows: velocity fluctuations, turbulent stresses, surface roughness, wall turbulence. Hydrodynamic forces: drag and lift. One-dimensional gradually varied flow hypothesis: De Saint-Venant equations.

Steady flow in natural channels
Energy equation: computation of steady flow levels in a natural channel. Wall and shape drag. Drag due to vegetation. Computation of rapidly varied flow situations.

Solid transport in natural channels
Characteristics of the transported sediment. Incipient motion conditions, critical bed stress values, Shields diagram. Bed transport: Einstein theory, formulas for bed load evaluation. Transport of suspended sediments: Rouse equation. Solid transport in non-equilibrium conditions: morphological evolution of river beds.

Unsteady free-surface flows
Wave celerity. Cinematic model. Parabolic model: study of the spatial evolution of flood waves. Numerical methods for the De Saint-Venant equations: method of characteristics, finite difference methods.

Course entry requirements

Mathematics: integral and differential calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations. Physics: definition and measurement of physical quantities, vector calculus, principles of Mechanics, definition of force and energy, conservation principles. Hydraulics: hydrostatics, uniform and gradually varied flow in artificial channels.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 38
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 18
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

A. Armanini. Principi di idraulica fluviale. BIOS.

Testing and exams

Oral exam.