OVERVIEW

The course describes the environmental impacts in coastal area related to the sewer and stormwater discharges and the oil spills in the marine environment. It also describes the hydraulic and hydro-geological risk for inland transport infrastructures. It finally addresses the technical and normative aspects needed to manage these phenomena.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at providing an overview about the environmental impact of costal infrastructures for transport logistics, and production (e.g., seaports) examining the regulations issued both at national and international level. Further, the course deals with the technical-engineering aspects of the hydraulic infrastructures in coastal areas.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course is divided in three main topics. At the end of the first part of the course students will be able to recognize and describe the main aspects related to the environmental management of storm water and sewer discharges with particular focus to the limitations and typology of discharges in coastal area. They will be able to define the main components of the drainage networks and of the hydraulic devices required for the management of wash-off discharges and to control outflows. They will know the main techniques that characterize sustainable urban drainage systems.

At the end of the second part of the course students will be able to recognize the main sources of oil spills in the marine environment and will be able to select the correct recovery solutions with particular focus on the mitigation of the impact along the coastline. They will know the main normative aspects that allows to protect the marine environment against oil pollution.

At the end of the third part of the course students will be able to recognize the main components of the flood and hydro-geological risk for inland transport infrastructures and the main collapse mechanisms of bridges due to fluvial floods. They will be able to select appropriate mitigation techniques and will know the main contents of the Italian Guidelines for the classification and management of risk, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges.

Students will be able to critically re-elaborate the knowledge acquired deepening one of the topics of the course that will be chosen for the group work.

Students will develop the capability of managing their social interactions with a collaborative attitude and adopting constructive communication processes. They will develop decision-making autonomy, the ability to manage the acquired information with the aim to negotiate solutions and to evaluate the associated uncertainties.

PREREQUISITES

Not required.

TEACHING METHODS

The course is organized in frontal lectures with intermediate tests (wooclaps) that will allow to monitor the level of learning. A design problem will be assigned involving the dimensioning of a simple hydraulic infrastructure by means of a worksheet. The worksheet and the associated short report will be sent by each student to the teacher at the end of the course. Two seminars taken by experts in the field will be offered during the course.

Part of the course will be organised by dividing students in groups (2/3 students) to deepen one of the environmental issues presented during the lesson hours. Before the end of the lectures each group will propose the subject and the outline of the presentation that must be approved by the teacher. Results will be presented and discussed during the oral exam.

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it), the Polytechnic School's disability liaison.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The main components of the course are listed below.

Sewer and stormwater drainage networks.

Lateral spillways, first flush and storage tanks.

Limitations to the discharges in coastal areas.

Main characteristics of sustainable urban drainage systems.

Examples of sustainable urban drainage systems.

Sources of oil spills in the marine environment.

Mitigation techniques against the oil spill in the marine environment with particular focus on the safety of the coastline.

Examples of accidents in the marine environment.

The main normative aspects addressing the protection of the marine environment from oil spills.

The hydraulic and landslide risk for inland transport infrastructures.

Mitigation solutions for roads against landslides.

Main collapse mechanisms of bridges due to flood and erosion and the associated mitigation strategies.

The Italian Guidelines for the classification and management of risk, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges.

Design of flood barriers and main characteristics of storage basins for the protection of inland transport infrastructures against floods.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The material of the course is available on Aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ARIANNA CAUTERUCCIO (President)

ENRICO CHINCHELLA

ILARIA GNECCO (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

https://corsi.unige.it/corsi/10377/studenti-orario

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists in a presentation of the group work and a discussion of the subject selected for the presentation (and eventually strictly related subjects). The slides of the presentation must be uploaded on the TEAMS channel of the course ten days before the exam date. The discussion of the group work must obtain a grade >= 6/10 to access the written exam. Before the written exam the worksheet and the associated short report on the design of a simple hydraulic infrastructure prepared during the lessons must be sent to the teacher by email. To this part is assigned a maximum grade equal to 2. The written part of the exam consists in a close ended questions test on all contents of the course. The grade of the written exam must be >= 12/18 to be considered sufficient. The final score is the sum of the grades all parts of the exam.  

ASSESSMENT METHODS

During the oral presentation and discussion, the technical skills acquired by the student during the course and during the group work will be evaluated. The interaction with other students within the group will be also considered. The student must demonstrate the ability to synthesise and illustrate the concepts, as well as the ability to critically re-elaborate and effectively use the knowledge acquired.

The written close ended questions test will be evaluated based on the number of correct answers and the score associated to each question. The design of the simple hydraulic infrastructure will be evaluated based on the correctness of the obtained results.

Exam schedule