ID:
508069
Duration (hours):
49
CFU:
6
SSD:
IDRAULICA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Primo Semestre (22/09/2025 - 24/10/2025)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course illustrates the fundamental physical principles determining the flow of water and sediments in rivers, complicated water bodies in which natural and man-made forces interact in determining the hydrodynamic behaviour. At the end of the course, the student will be able to understand the hydraulic flow and sediment transport dynamics in rivers and set up the related calculations and estimations, essential for sound applications of river engineering.
Course Prerequisites
A solid knowledge on open-channel flows from previous courses of basic hydraulics is mandatory for proper understanding. Knowledge of the principles of fluid mechanics and of basic physics and numerical analysis are also strongly beneficial to quickly and proficiently master the course topics.
Teaching Methods
Lectures with multimedia slides will be provided for each topic. Sample application exercises will be developed throughout the course. All updated course material displayed during classes will be made available through the KIRO page of the course, even though attendance at all lectures is vital for complete and personal understanding of the subject.
Assessment Methods
Written exam with a duration of 2 hours on the course topics, made up of 4 open questions awarding up to 8 points each, specifically aimed at assessing the acquired own understanding of the subject. Evaluation will be given through the usual 0 – 30 scale. The 30 cum laude mark will be awarded in case of total score equal to or above 31.
Texts
Course slides are purposedly as much complete and verbose as possible to avoid relying on external material for exam preparation. Various freely available material from research, academic and governmental institutions around the world will be shared for students aiming at getting additional details on topics of interest to those given during the course and required for the final exam.
Contents
1. Basics of natural stream hydraulics: typical cross sections of natural rivers and their elements, momentum and energy equations, velocity and shear stress distribution, flow resistance equations, roughness assessment methods, field flow measurements.
2. Sediment transport threshold: hydrodynamic forces on sediment grains, threshold velocity, threshold bed-shear stress, deterministic and probabilistic concepts of threshold of motion.
3. Bed-load transport: empirical relationships relating bed shear stress to discharge or velocity, formulas for bed-load estimation; fractional bed-load of non-uniform sediment mixtures.
4. Suspended-load transport: models based on the diffusion concept, equations for the vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration, equilibrium and non-equilibrium sediment concentration distributions, threshold condition for sediment suspension, wash load, formulas for suspended-load and total-load estimation, suspended transport of non-uniform sediments.
5. Bedforms: basic concepts on ripples, dunes, antidunes, chutes and pools, bars, methods for predicting bedforms, flow resistance with bedforms, techniques for shear-stress partition.
6. Non-equilibrium sediment transport: actual and equilibrium values of sediment transport rate, bed aggradation and degradation dynamics, adaptation length.
7. Basic principles of river numerical modelling: geometry preparation, initial and boundary conditions setting, performing flow simulations, sensitivity analyses.
2. Sediment transport threshold: hydrodynamic forces on sediment grains, threshold velocity, threshold bed-shear stress, deterministic and probabilistic concepts of threshold of motion.
3. Bed-load transport: empirical relationships relating bed shear stress to discharge or velocity, formulas for bed-load estimation; fractional bed-load of non-uniform sediment mixtures.
4. Suspended-load transport: models based on the diffusion concept, equations for the vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration, equilibrium and non-equilibrium sediment concentration distributions, threshold condition for sediment suspension, wash load, formulas for suspended-load and total-load estimation, suspended transport of non-uniform sediments.
5. Bedforms: basic concepts on ripples, dunes, antidunes, chutes and pools, bars, methods for predicting bedforms, flow resistance with bedforms, techniques for shear-stress partition.
6. Non-equilibrium sediment transport: actual and equilibrium values of sediment transport rate, bed aggradation and degradation dynamics, adaptation length.
7. Basic principles of river numerical modelling: geometry preparation, initial and boundary conditions setting, performing flow simulations, sensitivity analyses.
Course Language
English
Degrees
Degrees
CIVIL ENGINEERING FOR MITIGATION OF RISK FROM NATURAL HAZARDS
Master’s Degree
2 years
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