Floods are lethal and destructive natural hazards. The Mediterranean, including Greece, has recently experienced many flood events (e.g., Medicanes Zorbas and Ianos), while climate change results in more frequent and intense flood events. Accurate flood mapping in river areas is crucial for flood risk assessment, planning mitigation measures, protecting existing infrastructure, and sustainable planning. The accuracy of results is affected by all simplifying assumptions concerning the conceptual and numerical model implemented and the quality of geospatial data used (Digital Terrain Models—DTMs). The current research investigates flood modelling sensitivity against geospatial data accuracy using the following DTM resolutions in a mountainous river sub-basin of Thessaly’s Water District (Greece): (a) open 5 m and (b) 2 m data from Hellenic Cadastre (HC) and (c) 0.05 m data from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) topographical mission. RAS-Mapper and HEC-RAS are used for 1D (steady state) hydraulic simulation regarding a 1000-year return period. Results include flood maps and cross section-specific flow characteristics. They are analysed in a graphical flood map-based empirical fashion, whereas a statistical analysis based on the correlation matrix and a more sophisticated Machine Learning analysis based on the interpretation of nonlinear relationships between input–output variables support and particularise the conclusions in a quantifiable manner.
Greece is divided into three earthquake hazard zones: Zone I, Zone II and Zone III. In the present research work, the same building in the three seismic zones in Greece was modeled, analyzed and dimensioned. Then, the construction cost of its structural body was estimated. The building modeling was performed in SAP2000 using frame elements. The analysis of the building was performed by dynamic spectral analysis methods using the design spectrum EC8. A five-story building with a standard rectangular floor plan per floor was used. The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate whether the cost of construction of a load-bearing body of a reinforced concrete (R/C) building is influenced by the area of an earthquake hazard through a comparative analytical estimation of construction costs. It was determined if this impact is important and to what extent. Helpful conclusions were drawn in relation to the influence of seismicity on the construction cost of the load-bearing structure of R/C buildings. Furthermore, the probable environmental impact was examined.
The stability of slopes and embankments under the influence of static and seismic loads has been the subject of study for many researchers. This paper stands for an attempt to present tolerable move-ments, based on caused damage on slopes of the embankments, as well as to connect them with natural disas-ters of the environment.