THESEUS @IDRA2012 conference

During the National Hydraulic Congress in Brescia, Italy (September 10-15th), Prof. Leopoldo Franco (University of Rome 3) was invited to hold a lecture about “New research frontiers in Coastal Engineering”. The lecture elaborated some recent trends in coastal research, such as wave energy, climate proof coastal defences, wave forecasting, science and policy integration, interdisciplinary research perspectives.

Additionally, the lecture synthesized the most significant research carried out in the last years in Italy, considering the contributions provided by the teams of the University of Rome 3 and the University of L’Aquila in national and European projects (a.o. CLASH, MERMAID) regarding wave overtopping, harbour engineering, tsunamis, freak waves and early warning systems.

The objectives, methodologies and a selection of results of the THESEUS project were presented as some of the most significant ongoing research at national scale. Specifically the following topics were discussed: the approach to preserve sustainability of the coastal environment, the medium to long term climate trends, the combined use of wave energy converters for coastal protection and power production, the wave attenuation derived from coastal habitats such as biogenic reefs and seagrasses, the upgrade of existing defences accounting for their sensitivity to sea level rise, the eco-compatible design of breakwaters for maximizing biodiversity and minimizing invasive species, the development of risk assessment tools for coastal management and defence planning strategy.

Left picture: Prof. Leopoldo Franco, University of Rome 3, starting his lecture; Right picture: one of the slides presented to summarise THESEUS research regarding eco-compatible defence design.

Article by Barbara Zanuttigh