Pump-As-Turbine (PAT) technology is a smart solution to produce energy in a sustainable way at small scale, e.g., through its exploitation in classical Water Distribution Networks (WDNs). PAT application may actually represent a suitable solution to obtain both pressure regulation and electrical energy production. This technology enables one to significantly reduce both design and maintenance costs if compared to traditional turbine applications. In this work, the potential hydropower generation was evaluated through laboratory tests focused on the characterization of a pump working in reverse mode, i.e., as a PAT. Both hydrodynamic (pressure and discharge) and mechanical (rotational speed and torque) conditions were varied during the tests, with the aim to identify the most efficient PAT configurations and provide useful hints for possible real-world applications. The experimental findings confirm the good performances of the PAT system, especially when rotational speed and water demand are, respectively, larger than 850 rpm and 8 L/s, thus leading to efficiencies greater than 50%. Such findings were applied to a small municipality, where daily distribution of pressure and discharge were recorded upstream of the local WDN, where a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) is installed. Under the hypothesis of PRV replacement with the tested PAT, three different scenarios were studied, based on the mean recorded water demand and each characterized by specific values of PAT rotational speed. The best performances were observed for the largest tested speeds (1050 and 1250 rpm), which lead to pressure drops smaller than those actually due to the PRV, thus guaranteeing the minimum pressure for users, but also to mechanical powers smaller than 100 W. When a larger mean water demand is assumed, much better performances are reached, especially for large speeds (1250 rpm) that lead to mechanical powers larger than 1 kW combined to head drops a bit larger than those observed using the PRV. A suitable design is thus fundamental for the real-world PAT application.

An analysis of the run-up over different beach profiles is performed to evaluate the influence of the seabed shape on shore flooding. The analysis was carried out on the basis of numerical solutions of the nonlinear shallow water equations. The chosen solver was shown to provide reliable (both quantitatively and qualitatively) run-up results by comparing numerical solutions (of both solitary and regular waves) with the only available analytical solution forced by a localized topographic change. The run-up patterns on both a natural beach profile and three simpler and schematic profiles derived from it were evaluated. Different wave conditions (both random and groups) were used for a total amount of 96 different cases of inundation. Results are expressed in terms of both maximum (Zmax) and steady-state (Zsteady) run-up. It is found that both types of run-up depend on the offshore variable H0L0, as suggested by several available studies, and that, for all tested cases, random waves induce the larges...

A statistical analysis of the rainfalls is carried out for detecting a possible trend in the observed data. The rainfall dataset refers to the historical series collected in the hydrographic basins of the Marche region. On the one hand, the annual maximum daily, hourly and sub-hourly rainfalls have been analysed, on the other hand Climate Change Indices by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) (R1 mm, Rx1day, R20 mm, R95pTOT, PRCPTOT) have been computed to verify an eventual variation of the frequency of the rainfall regime in the Marche region. The time series, selected in the reference period 1951–2013, have been processed by using the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test. The results confirm that most of the series relating to the annual maximum rainfalls do not exhibit any trend. The absence of trend or the presence of negative trend prevail also in the analysis of the ETCCDI indices. The annual average anomalies of the same indices computed with respect to the climatological reference period 1961–1990 are negative since the mid-1980s, but they appear to show an increasing behaviour in the period 2009–2013.

Video-monitoring can be exploited as a valuable tool to acquire continuous, high-quality information on the evolution of beach morphology at a low cost and, on such basis, perform beach resilience analyses. This manuscript presents preliminary results of an ongoing, long-term monitoring programme of five sandy Italian beaches along the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian sea. The project aims at analyzing nearshore morphologic variabilities on a time period of several years, to link them to resilience indicators. The observations indicate that most of the beach width variations can be linked to discrete variations of sandbar systems, and most of all to an offshore migration and decay of the outermost bars. Further, the largest net shoreline displacements across the observation period are experienced by beaches with a clear NOM (Net Offshore Migration)-type evolution of the seabed.

The working features of innovative coastal defense structures that can dissipate the energy of incoming waves by the action of large-scale bottom unevennesses (rigid blades covering the lower half of the water depth) were investigated by means of a laboratory experimental campaign. The goal of the study was to characterize the ability of the structures to efficiently reduce the wave height with a minimal change in the mean water superelevations. Similar wave height reductions were achieved for both vertical and inclined blades; their efficiency was slightly superior to that of traditional submerged rubble-mound breakwaters of the same cross-shore extension. For the incident waves examined, very low mean water elevations were observed inshore of the structures, with the inclined blades producing the smallest values. These results suggest that the structures analyzed here could represent an alternative to submerged rubble-mound breakwaters from a hydrodynamic point of view to protect coastlines prone to ero...