Venice High Water Barriers: Problems Analysis and Design Approach

The project to protect Venice against periodic flooding appears to be a complex problem due to the city and surrounding environment that are extremely fragile, the presence of the port activity and the hazard of perturbation of the physical, chemical, biological equilibrium of the Venice lagoon. The mobile barriers are one of the components of a complex system that is being projected. This rapport will investigate further into the following subjects with relation to the Venice high water barriers: 1. Requirements and constraints 2. The buoyancy of the flap gates 3. Geometry of the single gate: tests of the different alternatives 4. Dynamic behaviour of the barrier under wave action 5. Siltation of the recesses 6. Fouling due to vegetable and animal growing 7. Corrosion of the steel structures 8. Inspection and maintenance 9. Reliability: risks identification and analysisICCE 199