Ascolta

 Research Projects

 

HYDRAULIC CONSTRUCTIONS

• Optimal selection of the rehabilitation interventions of water networks, with particular reference to conditions of scarcity and uncertainty of information. Asset management models of networks and plants in the framework of the integrated water service and decision support systems (Decision Support Systems, DSS).
• Anti-seismic upgrading of water infrastructure in the framework of routine maintenance of networks and plants, aimed at the minimization of seismic risk.
• Concise indicators of hydraulic reliability and design robustness of distribution networks.
• Assessment, analysis and hydraulic modeling of water losses in distribution networks.
• Simulation of water quality in urban water distribution networks.
• Benchmarking of the management of urban water distribution and drainage networks and wastewater treatment plants.
• Optimal management of large hydraulic systems through specific modeling software.
• Management of urban water networks under conditions of scarcity of resources.
• Selection of the optimal return period of the hydrological input for the design of urban drainage networks, based on the minimization of the total cost (construction, maintenance and flooding damages) during the life cycle of infrastructure.
• Analysis of consumptions and limitations of water losses in water supply systems with an intermittent functioning.
• Study of energetic impact due to water scarcity.
• Uncertainty analysis of flood damages assessment in urban areas.
• Creation and management of a Sicilian dams and reservoirs database.

 HYDROLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOGICAL RISK

• Time series analysis of climate variables.
• Regional frequency analysis of hydrological extreme events (flood and heavy rain) through the L-moments method.
• 1D and 2D propagation modeling in urban and extra-urban areas.
• Ecohydrology of arid, semi-arid, and humid regions.
• Analysis of crops productivity by means of ecohydrological models.
• Analysis of climate change impact on main hydrological processes.
• Analysis of mutual relationships between hydrology, morphology and vegetation.
• Assessment of uncertainty sources in hydrological models with GLUE procedures.
• Generation of hydrodynamic variables.
• Coupling between spatially-distributed, physically-based hydrological models and slope stability models.
• Coupling between spatially-distributed, physically-based hydrological models and soil erosion models.
• Hydrological applications of radar meteorology in urban systems.
• Remote sensing of precipitation from satellite platforms.

 WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

• Multi-regressive models for the prediction of water availability for the optimal management of reservoirs at multi-annual scale, based on drought risk mitigation and minimization of total costs.
• Use of reservoirs for the temporary accumulation of water therein pumped using the peaks of energy production from intermittent renewable sources (particularly wind) exceeding the instantaneous electricity demand.

 FULL FIELD ACTIVITIES

• Analysis of surface current measurements of sea, rivers and lagoon by means of buoys equipped with GPS devices.
• Measurements of flow velocity and discharge profiles in rivers.
• Point measurements of two-dimensional velocity, pressure, temperature and salinity.
• Point measurements of three-dimensional velocity by means of Doppler ultrasound and punctual pressure measurement with specific transducers.
• Ultrasounds measurements of three-dimensional sea wave speed profile and measurements of sea level.
• Measurements of three-dimensional sea wave speed profile with on-board instruments.
• Measurements of soil moisture profile.
• Rainfall depth measurements at a point by means of traditional rain gauges, weighing rain gauges, and disdrometer.
• Assessment of rainfall fields from X-band weather radar measurements.
• Monitoring of landslides through measurements of movement and acceleration of superficial soil.
• Monitoring of mass (water and CO₂) and energy transfer in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere system by means of eddy covariance towers.

 REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

• Modeling and monitoring of hydrologic variables by means of remote sensing data, with a special attention to the spatial and temporal evolution of evapotranspiration and surface soil moisture.
• Precision irrigation and precision farming applications by means of remote sensing data and in situ weather data acquisition.
• Analysis of mass and energy exchange in the Soil Plant Atmosphere system by means of eddy correlation towers.
• Land-Vegetation dynamic related to land degradation and desertification phenomena. Specific vegetation indices have been set up to take into account the various vegetation cover.
• Monitoring submerged vegetation (Posidonia oceanica coverage along the Sicilian coasts) in shallow water by means of remotely sensed data (hyperspectral, multispectral).
• Marine and coastal waters monitoring by means remote sensing and in situ data. The classical NASA algorithms have been re-calibrated and applied to the Sicilian marine coastal water using MODIS imagery.
• Monitoring algal toxic blooms (Planktothrix rubescens) within reservoirs and assessment of the impact on water supply systems. This research was carried out with the specific goal to monitor the algae blooms in the Sicilian reservoirs.
• Monitoring surface movements by means satellite and/or airborne RADAR image acquisitions (Differential Interferometry - Diff-InSAR)
• Monitoring oil-spills into the sea using RADAR, multispectral and hyperspectral imagery.
• Monitoring marine surface currents by means of ground based HF RADAR systems (see: capemalta.net/CALYPSO).
• Creation of algorithm to obtain parameter at basin scale for several application (flood models, soil erosion, spatially-distributed models).
• Implementation and derivation of methods for interpolation of meteoclimatic data and procedures to obtain quantities for representation of spatial and temporal dynamics in areas of interest (desertification, climatic change).
• Model setup of different phenomena (hydrological processes, environmental phenomena, forest fire propagation) within GIS environments (Pyton, PHP or VisualBasic programming).

 

Research Projects