Description

Contents

Profile A - Hydraulic Engineering

Major research topic of Hydraulic Engineering include: fluid mechanics and fluid-structures interactions; hydraulic measurements; river hydraulics and hydraulic risk assessment and management; flow and transport of reactive solutes in porous systems; hydraulic networks. Key research area include:

* Fluid mechanics: emphasis is on the is devoted to the analysis of physical processes observed at various scales and their depiction in the context of appropriate interpretive models. Research and educational activities comprise analysis of advanced methodologies of computational and experimental fluid dynamics (e.g., image analysis techniques for hydraulic processes on multiple observational scales) and modeling of processes of fluid-structures interactions for environmental, civil and industrial engineering applications.
* River hydraulic and sediments mechanics: the key research topics are associated with optimization of approaches and technologies for land protection. Research and educational activities include modeling of free surface flows, local and general scour processes, hyper-concentrated flows, flooding and hydraulic risk analysis.
* Flow and transport in porous systems: The key objective is the development of theoretical and operational bases for the assessment of hydro-geo-chemical processes governing the distribution and residence time of contaminants in the subsurface with the distinctive aim of providing the building blocks for reliable technologies to mitigate environmental risk and to restore polluted aquifer systems. Key research topics include: characterization of hydraulic properties of natural aquifer systems; analysis of flow and multicomponent reactive transport process in heterogeneous media; mixing processes occurring in coastal aquifers.

Profile B - Hydrology, hydraulic construction, water resources and coastal engineering

The Profile B deal with the main research activities in the field of water resources spanning from hydrology to coastal engineering. The research activity that constitute the core of the profile is fully recognized from national and international research community. The research activities push the PhD students into the network of international research and let them to improve the state of the knowledge with
outstanding work in the fields of hydrological sciences, hydrological extremes, network hydraulic infrastructure as well as maritime hydraulics. The research topics and the methodological approach provide the students curriculum to be fully acknowledged from main academic schools, private enterprises, and national and international organizations as demonstrated by career opportunity gathered from former Phd students. A short description of the main research branches is given in the following.

* Hydrology and water resources: deal with the deep understanding of the main physical processes of the hydrological cicle which determine flood as well as drought phenomena and pollution migration. Measurement and modeling of variables active in water and energy budget (radiations, evapotranspiration, snow mantle dynamics, hydrological losses) are carried on. In situ data as well satellite data of earth surface are used to understand the processes ant their representative scales, more over continuous distributed water balance models are developed for simulating and monitoring flood as well drought processes.
* Hydrogeological hazard and mitigation strategies focalizes on the analysis of hydrological extremes, frequency of floods, droughts and precipitation. Probabilistic, stochastic and physically based models are used together with field observation to study and reproduce rainfall fields, floods and droughts. Early warning operative system are developed for shallow land sliding, snow avalanching and flood risk.
* Hydraulic networks engineering deal with the evaluation of design variables for urbane suage, and aqueducts. In particular water quality and quantity in drainage networks and effects of local and diffused structures for flood and pollution controls are investigated. Aqueducts efficiency and monitoring of water losses and pollution diffusion in a pressurized network are investigated.
* Hydraulic and coastal engineering approach the hydrodynamic of wave motion, marine currents, littoral dynamics, wave-structure interactions, Lagrangian and Eulerian numerical models.

Profile C - Environmental technologies

The full range of research themes offered by the PhD Course in Evironmental technologies cover the following list of topics:

* water supply technology and treatment, disposal and reuse of wastewater, advanced biological and physical-chemical water and wastewater treatment;
* management and planning of environmental resources: source apportionment of pollutant loads and assessment of their effects on the receiving water bodies/ environmental components; water quality modeling, scenario analysis and knowledge-based decision support systems of management alternatives.
* solid wastes and sludge minimization and management (composting the organic fraction of solid wastes, waste-to-energy plants, sanitary landfill, leachate treatment, hazardous waste solidification);
* phenomenology of atmospheric environment and treatment of gaseous emissions: statistical models of air quality data, sampling and speciation of fine particulate in the atmosphere, emission models from mobile sources, emissions of micro-pollutants from waste incineration processes, organic volatile control by biofiltration techniques;
* contaminated soils and their remediation, groundwater protection and treatment: risk assessment related to contamination levels of soil and its use, sampling methodologies, statistical analysis and mapping of contamination data, in-situ and on site bio-remediation;
* sustainability issues and environmental management systems (ISO 14001, EMAS, LCA, Ecolabel): a specific stress is put on data qualification and their statistical analysis to formulate appropriate indicators and indices.

Profile D Transport infrastructures

The main research themes considered as fundamental for the development of research activities concerning the transport infrastructures could be summed up in four chief topics, reciprocally connected to the topics related to other PhD research profiles.

* Transport networks: Complex transport network modelling (both modal homogenous and unhomogeneous networks), considering the functional interactions with the regional, national and international territory as well.
* Sustainable development: Analysis of the complex phenomenology characterizing the dynamics of development and their relations with the infrastructural system. Interaction between tunnels and underground hydraulic system.
* Technological innovation: Analysis of methods, criteria and indicators for the performance characterization of the infrastructures construction and maintenance techniques.
* Risk management: Analysis and development of improving measures concerning both the constructive and the management of road infrastructures, aiming at reducing risk for both workers and users. Geological risk deriving from the realization of transportation infrastructures.
* Methods: Modeling and systemizing of processes of decision, at both a strategic, tactical and operative level, characterizing road infrastructures design, construction and management (Project Management, Pavement Management Systems, Bridge Management Systems, etc.).

Profile E Geomatics

This wide range profile includes all the disciplines dealing with positioning, global and local reference systems establishments, surface surveying and reconstruction from a global scale down to the scale of an individual architectural manufact, representing the data by graphical or virtual tools, archiving and crossing the spatial information in terms of geographic information systems.

Summarizing we could identify the following education and research themes:

* Physical geodesy and satellite geodesy, including the representation of the gravity field at all scales and its geophysical interpretation,
* Positioning and navigation, with the use of both classical and satellite techniques, like GPS,
* Surface surveying by optical or other sensors, like SAR, LIDAR, etc., at different scales from regional down to the manufact scale
* Digital photogrammetry and image analysis, including the development of photogrammetric software for the geometrical reconstruction of surfaces and features extraction
* remote sensing, namely the problem of identifying, by suitable spectral analysis, specific geographic information
* Geographic information systems, with the application of the most modern technology for internet GIS and mobile GIS
* cultural heritage reconstruction and archiving, with the solution of the complex problems of combination of different data into a unique data base providing three dimensional virtual models that preserve the full geometrical and metrical information.

Requirements

Italian and foreign citizens can apply. They are required to have graduated in accordance with the pre-existing laws MD 3.11.1999 n. 509 or to have a master of science degree in accordance with MD 3.11.1999 n. 509 or a master of science in accordance with MD 22.10.2004 n. 270 or similar academic qualification obtained abroad, equivalent in duration and content to the Italian qualification and for an overall duration of university studies of at least five years.
Knowledge of the English language to at least B2 level is required.
Admission to the programme will be decided according to evaluation of the academic curriculum, the cover letter and to the development of possible PhD research which candidates must submit together with their application in reply to the admission call.