Mario Maiolo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Mario Maiolo

Journal of Hazardous Materials, Mar 1, 2023

Water, Sep 24, 2020

Sea hazards are increasingly threatening worldwide coastal areas, which are among the most strate... more Sea hazards are increasingly threatening worldwide coastal areas, which are among the most strategic resources of the Earth in supporting human population, economy and the environment. These hazards enhance erosion processes and flooding events, producing severe socioeconomic impacts and posing a challenge to ocean engineers and stakeholders in finding the optimal strategy to protect both the coastal communities and the health of the environment. The impact of coastal hazards is actually worsened not only by an enhancing rate of relative sea level rise and storminess driven by climate changes, but also by increasing urban pressure related to the development of the sea economy. With regard to larger environmental awareness and climate change adaptation needs, the present study focuses on a stepwise approach that supports the actions for coastal protection at Calabaia Beach, which is located in the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone (Cosenza, Italy). These actions first aim to protect humans and coastal assets, then to restore the environment and the local habitat, overcoming the need for the emergency interventions carried out in the last decades and pointing out that healthy ecosystems are more productive and support a sustainable marine economy ("Blue Growth").

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2019

Cogent engineering, 2017

Climate change and the processes of urbanization alter the hydrologic and hydraulic regime of run... more Climate change and the processes of urbanization alter the hydrologic and hydraulic regime of runoffs formation in urban areas. Low impact infrastructure development (LID) contributes to achieving conditions of invariance hydrological and hydraulics. The purpose of this work is to identify an index of synthetic sustainability (SSI) based on life cycle assessment (LCA). Such LCA evaluates design alternatives through the comparison of the different values of the SSI. The proposed methodology allows the evaluation of the SSI attributing to the individual layers of the LIDs different weights and taking into account both of the influence that each of them perform on invariance hydrologic and hydraulic both of the LCA normalized output. In this paper is showed a methodological implementation obtained by the analysis of a green roof and a permeable pavement. This green roof has been realized, on real scale, in the Urban Hydrology Experimental Park in University of Calabria (Italy).

Urban Water Journal, Oct 31, 2022

Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Dec 1, 2021

The management of a water network metabolism depends on the estimate of incoming and outgoing flo... more The management of a water network metabolism depends on the estimate of incoming and outgoing flows related to the life cycle of the products and processes involved. This type of analysis can be used, in an equivalent manner, to estimate the environmental loads associated with products and processes, providing a useful support to define the sustainability level of a water network. The Life Cycle Assessment, in these contexts, is often used in association with other methods for estimating metabolism. In this work the impact analysis of input and output flows of the Rende (Italy) water network is proposed, aimed at estimating the cost of its metabolism, in terms of global impact, referring to the materials making up its hydraulic elements.

IOP conference series, 2020

The GHGs emissions by different activities show that the main part that is 25% belongs to electri... more The GHGs emissions by different activities show that the main part that is 25% belongs to electricity and heat production and the industrial activities counting as 21% of total emission. About 37% of the electricity consumption in Europe belongs to manufacturing and share of industrial activities in GHGs are among 30% to 40%. The electricity production trends show that the proportion of the renewables energy is going to reach to 20% in Europe by 2020 and according to the new energy targets, the minimum use of renewable energy must be 27% by 2030 and decarbonizing by 2050. For the industrial sector as a main energy consumer several elements affect the total energy consumption that start from the mining of the raw materials, transporting the materials to factories, grid network and finally the product to the end users and landfilling/recycling the used products. In this regards, to analyse all factors together a new multi-objective dynamic model has been developed. Moreover, to achieve ecofactories, the main solutions have been provided and dynamically analysed by the model. The results show that, all possible factors must be considered at the same time and applying just some approaches such as solar panels and forgetting the other factors such as end user, life cycle analysis and many other factors will not achieve the sustainability goals. The multi-objective dynamic models can be used as an appropriate approach to check the role of all solutions in achieving eco and sustainable factories.

Sustainability, Dec 6, 2020

Electrical and energy production have a noticeable water footprint, and buildings share of global... more Electrical and energy production have a noticeable water footprint, and buildings share of global energy consumption is about 40%. This study presents a comprehensive experimental analysis of different thermal impacts and water consumption of green roofs in a Mediterranean climate. The study aims to investigate the use of water directly for green roofs and reduce the water footprint of energy in summer and winter due to its thermal impacts. The measurements were carried out for an extensive green roof with an area of 55 m 2 and a thickness of 22 cm, and direct water consumption by a green roof and direct and indirect water consumption by cooling and heating systems were analyzed. According to the analysis, in summer, the maximum roof temperature on a conventional roof was 72 • C, while under the green roof it was 30.3 • C. In winter, the minimum roof temperature on a conventional roof was −8.6 • C, while under the green roof it was 7.4 • C. These results show that green roofs affect energy consumption in summer and winter, and the corresponding thermal requirements for the building have a water footprint regarding energy production. In summer, the thermal reduction in the water footprint by a green roof was 48 m 3 if an evaporative air conditioner is used and 8.9 m 3 for a compression air conditioner, whereas the water consumed in the green roof was 8.2 m 3. Therefore, using water directly in the green roof would reduce the energy consumption in buildings, and thus less water has to be used in power plants to provide the same thermal impact. In winter, green roofs water consumption was higher than the thermal water footprint; however, there is no need to irrigate the green roof as the water consumed comes from precipitation. This experimental analysis determines that in the Mediterranean climate, green roofs allow the achievement of the same thermal conditions for buildings in both summer and winter, with a reduction in water consumption.

Sustainability, Sep 28, 2018

Widespread overbuilding, the prevalence of asphalt surfaces on green areas, and the use of buildi... more Widespread overbuilding, the prevalence of asphalt surfaces on green areas, and the use of building materials with low heat dissipation abilities are among the main causes of Urban Heat Islands. Within urban areas, evapotranspiration and shade from plants can significantly reduce the UHI phenomenon, help in stormwater management, and reduce building energy consumption. The goal of this work is to analyze the hydraulics and energy performances of an experimental extensive green roof at the University of Calabria (Italy) in Mediterranean area. This study confirmed that green roofs significantly mitigate storm water runoff generation in terms of runoff volume reduction and peak attenuation, and improve the thermal performance of buildings and the internal comfort of indoor spaces.

Journal of Hydrology, Dec 1, 1996

Fractal suggestions find interesting applications in the matter of stream networks hydraulics. Re... more Fractal suggestions find interesting applications in the matter of stream networks hydraulics. Remarkable results have been obtained about the value of fractal dimensions both of a whole network and of a single channel. In this paper 17 fiver networks in Southern Italy are investigated in terms of their fractal nature and fractal dimension. The results confirm the fractal structure of both fiver networks and of stream channels. Geological constraints and features deriving from the maturity of the basins seem to reduce the capability of stream reaches to develop a purely branching process. Consequently the fractal dimension of stream networks turns out to be appreciably different from the one predicted by the topological randomness model. Thus the values we found for the fractal dimensions are less than 2 for the networks and not equal to I for fiver reaches.

IOP conference series, Jun 1, 2023

There are many types of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as intensive/extensive green roofs, gr... more There are many types of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as intensive/extensive green roofs, green walls, retention ponds, Bioretention cells, treatment wetlands, river restoration, urban parks, and infiltration trenches. Each could contribute to one or more sustainable development goals as some can improve the ecosystem, some improve water resources, or mitigate urban flooding. Implementing the most suitable NBS in each area needs multidisciplinary perspective analysis by considering circular economy principles and the available resources that exhibit the importance of ranking the possible NBS that could be geo-based. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop a novel ranking method for selecting the best NBSs in each area, which depends on plenty of geo-based variables such as climate type, water resource, economy, environment, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and so forth. The developed dynamic geo-based ranking method has been validated through case-based assessment in different regions, confirming the proposed method’s effectiveness. In conclusion, the developed method could rank the selected NBS in each location, and according to geo-based information, it could show the implementation of the most suitable NBS, thus improving their role in the circular city.

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Jul 12, 2020

Erosion processes threaten the economy, the environment and the ecosystem of coastal areas. In ad... more Erosion processes threaten the economy, the environment and the ecosystem of coastal areas. In addition, human action can significantly affect the characteristics of the soil and the landscape of the shoreline. In this context, pursuing environmental sustainability is of paramount importance in solving environmental degradation of coastal areas worldwide, with particular reference to the design of complex engineering structures. Among all the measures conceived to protect the shoreline, environmentally friendly interventions should be supported by the stakeholders and tested by means of mathematical models, in order to evaluate their effectiveness in coastal protection through the evaluation of wave damping and bedload. This study focuses on protected nourishments, as strategic interventions aimed to counteract coastal erosion without affecting the environment. Here, we develop a simplified method to provide a preliminary assessment of the efficiency of submerged breakwaters in reducing wave energy at a relatively low computational cost, if compared to the standard 2D or full 3D mathematical models. The methodology is applied at Calabaia Beach, located in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), in the area of the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone. The results show that the simplified method is proven to be an essential tool in assisting researchers and institutions to address the effects of submerged breakwaters on nourishment protection.

Water Resources Management, Oct 10, 2022

The forecast analysis of the exposure to the contamination risk in a water distribution network r... more The forecast analysis of the exposure to the contamination risk in a water distribution network requires increasing the quality of the applied input/outputs modeling. This need involves using non-traditional models responding to the increasingly high computation requirements. In this scenario, the Cellular Automata paradigm represents a new frontier with considerable potential. Specifically, this paper describes the Eulerian Water quAlity Modeling-Cellular Automata (EWAM-CA) model, aimed at simulating the sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) injection, transport, and reaction phase in a medium-sized drinking water network. The EWAM-CA accuracy was compared with the Epanet software on a Fossolo water network, in Bologna town (Italy), considering a constant and an impulsive input respectively. Due to CA's intrinsic aptitude for parallel computing, a parallel version of EWAM-CA was developed. Moreover, using the capability of the cellular automata to manage the modeling asynchronously, improving the computational efficiency, we propose a novel approach based on activation/deactivation asynchronous rules, avoiding unnecessary calculations in nodes or pipes where no pollution occurs. The different EWAM-CA versions were compared for the case study, and the parallel EWAM-CA approach coupled with asynchronous functionality significantly improved computational performance.

Green energy and technology, Sep 1, 2018

Permeable Pavement (PP) represents a good solution to solve stormwater management problems both i... more Permeable Pavement (PP) represents a good solution to solve stormwater management problems both in quantitative and qualitative way. In this way, the potential removal efficiency of a permeable pavement in treating metals was assessed by performing a monitoring campaign at a lab-scale system constructed for the purpose. Based on literature experiences, different relatively high-level concentrations of Copper and Zinc were applied during 8 different synthetic rainfall events. Results shown that the removal rates of Cu and Zn of the lab-scale pavements range from 85% to 92% and from 65% to 82%, respectively. Results also shown that the Cu removal rates of the lab-scale pavement are higher than Zn removal rate.

Sustainability, Sep 3, 2020

At the outlet of the Vermicelli catchment-a peri-urban area located in the campus of University o... more At the outlet of the Vermicelli catchment-a peri-urban area located in the campus of University of Calabria (Cosenza, Southern Italy)-a sedimentation tank is located, aiming at collecting the basin surface runoff and improve its quality. First, experimental results of the treatment effects are here presented and analyzed. In addition, a monitoring campaign was conducted in order to characterize the particles transported by surface runoff and to determine the treatment efficiency of the tank. The analysis showed the presence of a pollutant load in the surface runoff of the Vermicelli basin and provided information on its particle-size distribution (PSD). Results were considered in terms of the treatment efficiency of the sedimentation tank, showing a good overall removal efficiency value, together with a high variability of the removal sedimentation efficiency. This variability is mainly due to the different grain size of the suspended solids and the characteristics of the rainfall event.

Green roof technique has been intensely investigated in the last few years because of the several... more Green roof technique has been intensely investigated in the last few years because of the several benefits it is believed to produce. Among the physical phenomena involved in a green cover, the evapotranspiration (ET) plays a cardinal role given its correlation both to hydrological and thermal balance of a vegetated surface. In this study a qualitative evaluation of the water lost through ET from two experimental extensive Green Roofs, by means of water content measurements, was performed. The associated latent heat was then calculated and compared to the solar radiation incident on the vegetated roofs surface. The analysis allowed to assess the importance of the ET in the Green Roofs thermal performance and to evaluate the influence of irrigation on the enhancement of this phenomenon.

Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Dec 1, 2018

Freshwater resources are very limited and because of the power plants, the water consumption in i... more Freshwater resources are very limited and because of the power plants, the water consumption in industry is even more than municipal. The cooling systems is a very important part of water consumption and in the past studies, it has been neglected. The analysis of cooling systems shows that, evaporative air conditioners will consume high rate of water directly and that for a house with area of 140 m 2 is about 40 m 3 /month, that is about 10% of the total annual water use in typical households in an arid climate. The high power usage in compression air conditioner will also consume high water withdrawal indirectly and up to 102 m 3 /month in once-through cooling system. The results of the research show that the evaporated water in evaporative air conditioners is from the municipal network and since it is being evaporated, the impact is much higher than the urban water consumption that can be collected by wastewater systems. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the previous methods to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

Sustainability, Jan 2, 2020

Buildings portion in global energy consumption is 40%, and in the building envelope, the roof is ... more Buildings portion in global energy consumption is 40%, and in the building envelope, the roof is a crucial point for improving indoor temperature, especially in the last and second last floors. Studies show that green roofs can be applied to moderate roof temperature and affect the indoor temperature in summer and winter. However, the performance of green roofs depends on several parameters such as climate, irrigation, layer materials, and thickness. In this context, the present research deals with a comprehensive experimental analysis of different thermal impacts of green roofs in summer and winter in a Mediterranean climate. Measurements carried out in one year in three different types of green roofs with different thicknesses, layers, and with and without the insulation layer. The analysis determined the possible period that indoor cooling or heating might be required with and without green roofs and demonstrated the positive impact of green roofs in moderating the roof temperature and temperature fluctuations, which in summer was remarkable. In conclusion, since in the Mediterranean climate, the thermal differences between green roofs and conventional roofs in summer are much higher than winter, it seems that the green roof without an insulation layer would show better performance.

Journal of Hazardous Materials, Mar 1, 2023

Water, Sep 24, 2020

Sea hazards are increasingly threatening worldwide coastal areas, which are among the most strate... more Sea hazards are increasingly threatening worldwide coastal areas, which are among the most strategic resources of the Earth in supporting human population, economy and the environment. These hazards enhance erosion processes and flooding events, producing severe socioeconomic impacts and posing a challenge to ocean engineers and stakeholders in finding the optimal strategy to protect both the coastal communities and the health of the environment. The impact of coastal hazards is actually worsened not only by an enhancing rate of relative sea level rise and storminess driven by climate changes, but also by increasing urban pressure related to the development of the sea economy. With regard to larger environmental awareness and climate change adaptation needs, the present study focuses on a stepwise approach that supports the actions for coastal protection at Calabaia Beach, which is located in the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone (Cosenza, Italy). These actions first aim to protect humans and coastal assets, then to restore the environment and the local habitat, overcoming the need for the emergency interventions carried out in the last decades and pointing out that healthy ecosystems are more productive and support a sustainable marine economy ("Blue Growth").

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2019

Cogent engineering, 2017

Climate change and the processes of urbanization alter the hydrologic and hydraulic regime of run... more Climate change and the processes of urbanization alter the hydrologic and hydraulic regime of runoffs formation in urban areas. Low impact infrastructure development (LID) contributes to achieving conditions of invariance hydrological and hydraulics. The purpose of this work is to identify an index of synthetic sustainability (SSI) based on life cycle assessment (LCA). Such LCA evaluates design alternatives through the comparison of the different values of the SSI. The proposed methodology allows the evaluation of the SSI attributing to the individual layers of the LIDs different weights and taking into account both of the influence that each of them perform on invariance hydrologic and hydraulic both of the LCA normalized output. In this paper is showed a methodological implementation obtained by the analysis of a green roof and a permeable pavement. This green roof has been realized, on real scale, in the Urban Hydrology Experimental Park in University of Calabria (Italy).

Urban Water Journal, Oct 31, 2022

Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Dec 1, 2021

The management of a water network metabolism depends on the estimate of incoming and outgoing flo... more The management of a water network metabolism depends on the estimate of incoming and outgoing flows related to the life cycle of the products and processes involved. This type of analysis can be used, in an equivalent manner, to estimate the environmental loads associated with products and processes, providing a useful support to define the sustainability level of a water network. The Life Cycle Assessment, in these contexts, is often used in association with other methods for estimating metabolism. In this work the impact analysis of input and output flows of the Rende (Italy) water network is proposed, aimed at estimating the cost of its metabolism, in terms of global impact, referring to the materials making up its hydraulic elements.

IOP conference series, 2020

The GHGs emissions by different activities show that the main part that is 25% belongs to electri... more The GHGs emissions by different activities show that the main part that is 25% belongs to electricity and heat production and the industrial activities counting as 21% of total emission. About 37% of the electricity consumption in Europe belongs to manufacturing and share of industrial activities in GHGs are among 30% to 40%. The electricity production trends show that the proportion of the renewables energy is going to reach to 20% in Europe by 2020 and according to the new energy targets, the minimum use of renewable energy must be 27% by 2030 and decarbonizing by 2050. For the industrial sector as a main energy consumer several elements affect the total energy consumption that start from the mining of the raw materials, transporting the materials to factories, grid network and finally the product to the end users and landfilling/recycling the used products. In this regards, to analyse all factors together a new multi-objective dynamic model has been developed. Moreover, to achieve ecofactories, the main solutions have been provided and dynamically analysed by the model. The results show that, all possible factors must be considered at the same time and applying just some approaches such as solar panels and forgetting the other factors such as end user, life cycle analysis and many other factors will not achieve the sustainability goals. The multi-objective dynamic models can be used as an appropriate approach to check the role of all solutions in achieving eco and sustainable factories.

Sustainability, Dec 6, 2020

Electrical and energy production have a noticeable water footprint, and buildings share of global... more Electrical and energy production have a noticeable water footprint, and buildings share of global energy consumption is about 40%. This study presents a comprehensive experimental analysis of different thermal impacts and water consumption of green roofs in a Mediterranean climate. The study aims to investigate the use of water directly for green roofs and reduce the water footprint of energy in summer and winter due to its thermal impacts. The measurements were carried out for an extensive green roof with an area of 55 m 2 and a thickness of 22 cm, and direct water consumption by a green roof and direct and indirect water consumption by cooling and heating systems were analyzed. According to the analysis, in summer, the maximum roof temperature on a conventional roof was 72 • C, while under the green roof it was 30.3 • C. In winter, the minimum roof temperature on a conventional roof was −8.6 • C, while under the green roof it was 7.4 • C. These results show that green roofs affect energy consumption in summer and winter, and the corresponding thermal requirements for the building have a water footprint regarding energy production. In summer, the thermal reduction in the water footprint by a green roof was 48 m 3 if an evaporative air conditioner is used and 8.9 m 3 for a compression air conditioner, whereas the water consumed in the green roof was 8.2 m 3. Therefore, using water directly in the green roof would reduce the energy consumption in buildings, and thus less water has to be used in power plants to provide the same thermal impact. In winter, green roofs water consumption was higher than the thermal water footprint; however, there is no need to irrigate the green roof as the water consumed comes from precipitation. This experimental analysis determines that in the Mediterranean climate, green roofs allow the achievement of the same thermal conditions for buildings in both summer and winter, with a reduction in water consumption.

Sustainability, Sep 28, 2018

Widespread overbuilding, the prevalence of asphalt surfaces on green areas, and the use of buildi... more Widespread overbuilding, the prevalence of asphalt surfaces on green areas, and the use of building materials with low heat dissipation abilities are among the main causes of Urban Heat Islands. Within urban areas, evapotranspiration and shade from plants can significantly reduce the UHI phenomenon, help in stormwater management, and reduce building energy consumption. The goal of this work is to analyze the hydraulics and energy performances of an experimental extensive green roof at the University of Calabria (Italy) in Mediterranean area. This study confirmed that green roofs significantly mitigate storm water runoff generation in terms of runoff volume reduction and peak attenuation, and improve the thermal performance of buildings and the internal comfort of indoor spaces.

Journal of Hydrology, Dec 1, 1996

Fractal suggestions find interesting applications in the matter of stream networks hydraulics. Re... more Fractal suggestions find interesting applications in the matter of stream networks hydraulics. Remarkable results have been obtained about the value of fractal dimensions both of a whole network and of a single channel. In this paper 17 fiver networks in Southern Italy are investigated in terms of their fractal nature and fractal dimension. The results confirm the fractal structure of both fiver networks and of stream channels. Geological constraints and features deriving from the maturity of the basins seem to reduce the capability of stream reaches to develop a purely branching process. Consequently the fractal dimension of stream networks turns out to be appreciably different from the one predicted by the topological randomness model. Thus the values we found for the fractal dimensions are less than 2 for the networks and not equal to I for fiver reaches.

IOP conference series, Jun 1, 2023

There are many types of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as intensive/extensive green roofs, gr... more There are many types of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as intensive/extensive green roofs, green walls, retention ponds, Bioretention cells, treatment wetlands, river restoration, urban parks, and infiltration trenches. Each could contribute to one or more sustainable development goals as some can improve the ecosystem, some improve water resources, or mitigate urban flooding. Implementing the most suitable NBS in each area needs multidisciplinary perspective analysis by considering circular economy principles and the available resources that exhibit the importance of ranking the possible NBS that could be geo-based. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop a novel ranking method for selecting the best NBSs in each area, which depends on plenty of geo-based variables such as climate type, water resource, economy, environment, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and so forth. The developed dynamic geo-based ranking method has been validated through case-based assessment in different regions, confirming the proposed method’s effectiveness. In conclusion, the developed method could rank the selected NBS in each location, and according to geo-based information, it could show the implementation of the most suitable NBS, thus improving their role in the circular city.

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Jul 12, 2020

Erosion processes threaten the economy, the environment and the ecosystem of coastal areas. In ad... more Erosion processes threaten the economy, the environment and the ecosystem of coastal areas. In addition, human action can significantly affect the characteristics of the soil and the landscape of the shoreline. In this context, pursuing environmental sustainability is of paramount importance in solving environmental degradation of coastal areas worldwide, with particular reference to the design of complex engineering structures. Among all the measures conceived to protect the shoreline, environmentally friendly interventions should be supported by the stakeholders and tested by means of mathematical models, in order to evaluate their effectiveness in coastal protection through the evaluation of wave damping and bedload. This study focuses on protected nourishments, as strategic interventions aimed to counteract coastal erosion without affecting the environment. Here, we develop a simplified method to provide a preliminary assessment of the efficiency of submerged breakwaters in reducing wave energy at a relatively low computational cost, if compared to the standard 2D or full 3D mathematical models. The methodology is applied at Calabaia Beach, located in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy), in the area of the Marine Experimental Station of Capo Tirone. The results show that the simplified method is proven to be an essential tool in assisting researchers and institutions to address the effects of submerged breakwaters on nourishment protection.

Water Resources Management, Oct 10, 2022

The forecast analysis of the exposure to the contamination risk in a water distribution network r... more The forecast analysis of the exposure to the contamination risk in a water distribution network requires increasing the quality of the applied input/outputs modeling. This need involves using non-traditional models responding to the increasingly high computation requirements. In this scenario, the Cellular Automata paradigm represents a new frontier with considerable potential. Specifically, this paper describes the Eulerian Water quAlity Modeling-Cellular Automata (EWAM-CA) model, aimed at simulating the sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) injection, transport, and reaction phase in a medium-sized drinking water network. The EWAM-CA accuracy was compared with the Epanet software on a Fossolo water network, in Bologna town (Italy), considering a constant and an impulsive input respectively. Due to CA's intrinsic aptitude for parallel computing, a parallel version of EWAM-CA was developed. Moreover, using the capability of the cellular automata to manage the modeling asynchronously, improving the computational efficiency, we propose a novel approach based on activation/deactivation asynchronous rules, avoiding unnecessary calculations in nodes or pipes where no pollution occurs. The different EWAM-CA versions were compared for the case study, and the parallel EWAM-CA approach coupled with asynchronous functionality significantly improved computational performance.

Green energy and technology, Sep 1, 2018

Permeable Pavement (PP) represents a good solution to solve stormwater management problems both i... more Permeable Pavement (PP) represents a good solution to solve stormwater management problems both in quantitative and qualitative way. In this way, the potential removal efficiency of a permeable pavement in treating metals was assessed by performing a monitoring campaign at a lab-scale system constructed for the purpose. Based on literature experiences, different relatively high-level concentrations of Copper and Zinc were applied during 8 different synthetic rainfall events. Results shown that the removal rates of Cu and Zn of the lab-scale pavements range from 85% to 92% and from 65% to 82%, respectively. Results also shown that the Cu removal rates of the lab-scale pavement are higher than Zn removal rate.

Sustainability, Sep 3, 2020

At the outlet of the Vermicelli catchment-a peri-urban area located in the campus of University o... more At the outlet of the Vermicelli catchment-a peri-urban area located in the campus of University of Calabria (Cosenza, Southern Italy)-a sedimentation tank is located, aiming at collecting the basin surface runoff and improve its quality. First, experimental results of the treatment effects are here presented and analyzed. In addition, a monitoring campaign was conducted in order to characterize the particles transported by surface runoff and to determine the treatment efficiency of the tank. The analysis showed the presence of a pollutant load in the surface runoff of the Vermicelli basin and provided information on its particle-size distribution (PSD). Results were considered in terms of the treatment efficiency of the sedimentation tank, showing a good overall removal efficiency value, together with a high variability of the removal sedimentation efficiency. This variability is mainly due to the different grain size of the suspended solids and the characteristics of the rainfall event.

Green roof technique has been intensely investigated in the last few years because of the several... more Green roof technique has been intensely investigated in the last few years because of the several benefits it is believed to produce. Among the physical phenomena involved in a green cover, the evapotranspiration (ET) plays a cardinal role given its correlation both to hydrological and thermal balance of a vegetated surface. In this study a qualitative evaluation of the water lost through ET from two experimental extensive Green Roofs, by means of water content measurements, was performed. The associated latent heat was then calculated and compared to the solar radiation incident on the vegetated roofs surface. The analysis allowed to assess the importance of the ET in the Green Roofs thermal performance and to evaluate the influence of irrigation on the enhancement of this phenomenon.

Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Dec 1, 2018

Freshwater resources are very limited and because of the power plants, the water consumption in i... more Freshwater resources are very limited and because of the power plants, the water consumption in industry is even more than municipal. The cooling systems is a very important part of water consumption and in the past studies, it has been neglected. The analysis of cooling systems shows that, evaporative air conditioners will consume high rate of water directly and that for a house with area of 140 m 2 is about 40 m 3 /month, that is about 10% of the total annual water use in typical households in an arid climate. The high power usage in compression air conditioner will also consume high water withdrawal indirectly and up to 102 m 3 /month in once-through cooling system. The results of the research show that the evaporated water in evaporative air conditioners is from the municipal network and since it is being evaporated, the impact is much higher than the urban water consumption that can be collected by wastewater systems. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the previous methods to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

Sustainability, Jan 2, 2020

Buildings portion in global energy consumption is 40%, and in the building envelope, the roof is ... more Buildings portion in global energy consumption is 40%, and in the building envelope, the roof is a crucial point for improving indoor temperature, especially in the last and second last floors. Studies show that green roofs can be applied to moderate roof temperature and affect the indoor temperature in summer and winter. However, the performance of green roofs depends on several parameters such as climate, irrigation, layer materials, and thickness. In this context, the present research deals with a comprehensive experimental analysis of different thermal impacts of green roofs in summer and winter in a Mediterranean climate. Measurements carried out in one year in three different types of green roofs with different thicknesses, layers, and with and without the insulation layer. The analysis determined the possible period that indoor cooling or heating might be required with and without green roofs and demonstrated the positive impact of green roofs in moderating the roof temperature and temperature fluctuations, which in summer was remarkable. In conclusion, since in the Mediterranean climate, the thermal differences between green roofs and conventional roofs in summer are much higher than winter, it seems that the green roof without an insulation layer would show better performance.