Michele Mossa

Politecnico di Bari | Poliba · Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica

A coupled numerical approach that combines the WRF model and the Mike 3 (DHI) hydrodynamic model was developed and applied in two semi-enclosed basins in the Ionian Sea (Italy) to assess the wind-driven current. To gain a better understanding of how the sea current field can vary depending on meteorological data forcing, three different scenario we...

An assessment on the fluctuations in abundance of the striped venus clam (Chamelea gallina) in the southern Adriatic Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea), and the northern Gargano area, has been conducted through both historical information and recent data from monitoring surveys during the period 1997–2019. Production trends, conditions of the commerci...

In this study, we attempt to experimentally investigate the flow turbulence structure in a partly vegetated channel. To achieve the objective of this study, we conducted extensive measurements of flow velocities within and outside the vegetated area, where the flow is fully developed. The experiments were conducted in a very large channel at the Co...

The Taranto basin, a complex marine ecosystem with typical lagoon features, has been declared Site of National Interest (SIN) because of serious contamination of marine sediment. Since February 2014, The Coastal Engineering Laboratory (LIC) of DICATECh of the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy) maintains a place-based research programme in the M...

An efficient and adaptive strategy within the EU Marine Spatial Planning Directive has to manage the existing and increasing conflicts between human uses and habitat conservation in coastal-marine areas. Among the different human activities developed along the coasts, aquaculture occupies a primary role. In this context, the aims of this research h...

Citation: Iouzzi, N.; Ben Meftah, M.; Haffane, M.; Mouakkir, L.; Chagdali, M.; Mossa, M. Modeling of the Fate and Behaviors of an Oil Spill in the Azemmour River Estuary in Morocco. Abstract: Oil spills are one of the most hazardous pollutants in marine environments with potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems, human health, and socioeconomic...

This paper numerically investigates the physical features of hydraulic jump oscillations at an abrupt drop with high Froude numbers reaching values up to 9.92. In order to emphasize the importance of the bottom shape, different relative step heights in the range between 0.9 and 3.4 have been analysed, leading to the occurrence of different jump reg...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic socio-economic impact on mankind; however, the COVID-19 lockdown brought a drastic reduction of anthropic impacts on the environment worldwide, including the marine–coastal system. This study is concentrated on the Mar Piccolo basin of Taranto, a complex marine ecosystem model that is important in terms of e...

This study provides new insight into how to predict flow discharges of partly vegetated channels with emergent vegetation. By adapting for the first time the Interacting Divided Channel Method (IDCM), applied with a curved interface approach and with the presence of large-scale roughness elements (not considered in previous studies), the total and...

The English language edition of the book on the history of aqueducts, the resistance laws of the conduits and channels and the huge Apulian aqueduct ihas been published. For information on the Italian edition of the book, with interviews and articles in the press, see the following web page Italian edition Author: Michele Mossa Title of the book:...

The land use, climate change, hydrology, geology and topography determine sediment supply and transport in water resources. However, due to human-made activities, the presence of contaminants, such as heavy metals, nutrients, pesticides and other organic micro-pollutants, threatens the good ecological status of marine systems. In areas with a long...

In case of oil spills due to disasters, one of the main environmental concerns is the oil trajectory and, consequently, its spatial distribution. In the present study, two-dimensional (2D) smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) multi-phase simulations of submarine oil spills give a better insight into the process of oil diffusion in water. The study...

Heavy rainfall/snow events due to climate change can cause strong flooding, damaging existing infrastructure. The potential erosive action of runoff flow produces considerable local scouring at hydraulic structures, compromising their stability. This study is a synthesis of the research on scouring processes conducted by the hydraulic group of the...

In the present study, we numerically focus on the vorticity generation mechanism in a scour hole developed downstream of a grade control structure in sand-bed channels. The liquid-granular flow has been simulated through a symplectic Weakly Compressible SPH scheme with a two-equation turbulence model, where the two phases are treated as continua wi...

The effects of global warming have been addressed on coral reefs in tropical areas, while it is still unclear how coral forests are reacting, particularly at temperate latitudes. Here we show how mesophotic coral forests are affected by global warming in the Mediterranean Sea. We highlight how the current warming trend is causing the lowering of th...

The present paper places emphasis on the most widely used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approaches, namely the Eulerian and Lagrangian methods each of which is characterized by specific advantages and disadvantages. In particular, a weakly compressible smoothed particle (WCSPH) model, coupled with a sub-particle scale (SPS) approach for turbul...

The present study has the main purpose to experimentally investigate a turbulent momentum jet issued in a basin affected by rotation and in presence of porous obstructions. The experiments were carried out at the Coriolis Platform at LEGI Grenoble (FR). A large and unique set of velocity data was obtained by means of a Particle Image Velocimetry me...

Sea wave reflection from coastal protection structures is one of the main issues in the coastal design process. Several empirical formulas have been proposed so far to predict reflection coefficient from rubble mound breakwaters and smooth slopes. The aim of this study is to investigate wave reflection from a rubble mound structure placed in front...

Jet-like flows are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and oceans, and thus a thorough investigation of their behaviour in rotating systems is fundamental. Nevertheless, how they are affected by vegetation or, generally speaking, by obstructions is a crucial aspect which has been poorly investigated up to now. The aim of the present paper is to propose an...

This paper presents a brief history of the hydraulic jump and a literature review on hydraulic jumps’ experimental and numerical studies. Leonardo da Vinci noticed this phenomenon early on, but it was only later studied by Bidone in 1820. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the hydraulic jump has received a lot of attention following the devel...

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has constrained world governments to impose measures of restraint and social distancing which also involves coastal areas. One of the most affected activities is tourism due to travel restrictions imposed by precautionary measures. This is also reflected in the recreative use of the coastal strip. Consequently, beaches...

This paper presents a new depth-integrated non-hydrostatic finite element model for simulating wave propagation, breaking and runup using a combination of discontinuous and continuous Galerkin methods. The formulation decomposes the depth-integrated non-hydrostatic equations into hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic parts. The hydrostatic part is solved...

Citation: Calvo, L.; De Padova, D.; Mossa, M.; Rosman, P. Non-Hydrostatic Discontinuous/Continuous Galerkin Model for Wave Propagation, Breaking and Runup. Computation

Citation: Calvo, L.; De Padova, D.; Mossa, M.; Rosman, P. Non-Hydrostatic Discontinuous/Continuous Galerkin Model for Wave Propagation, Breaking and Runup. Computation

Nel presente lavoro si riporta una sintesi del contributo di Leonardo da Vinci nel campo dell’idraulica. Vengono evidenziati una gamma di leggi o campi di moto analizzati o rappresentati da Leonardo, come il risalto idraulico, i flussi in presenza di ostacoli, il moto ondoso, la conservazione della massa, oltre che alcuni geniali contributi nel cam...

In the face of the increasing death toll of the COVID-19 global pandemic, countries around the world have instituted restrictive measures to mitigate the serious effects of the pandemic. Human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 occurs primarily through large droplets that are expelled with sufficient momentum to come in direct contact with the recip...

The Coastal Engineering Laboratory (LIC) of DICATECh of the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy) maintains a place-based research programme in the Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo of Taranto (a coastal system in southern Italy), providing records of hydrodynamic and water-quality measurements. This site is one of the most complex marine ecosystem model...

Libro in italiano e inglese / Book in Italian and English SINTESI DELL’OPERA In questo lavoro si analizzano le alluvioni storiche della città di Bari, confrontate con quella recente dell’ottobre 2005, con l’obiettivo di evidenziare il ruolo dell’azione antropica e della cattiva pianificazione nell’amplificazione dei rischi territoriali. La zona s...

Most studies on local scouring at grade control structures have principally focused on the analysis of the primary flow field, predicting the equilibrium scour depth. Despite the numerous studies on scouring processes, secondary currents were not often considered. Based on comprehensive measurements of flow velocities in clear water scours downstre...

La gestione sostenibile delle aree costiere è legata ai problemi come l'erosione, la rapida crescita del tasso di urbanizzazione, il turismo e il degrado ambientale associato alle attività industriali e urbane. In aggiunta vanno considerati anche gli effetti dei cambiamenti climatici, i cui scenari hanno conseguenze significative sui sistemi costie...

Turbulence and undertow currents play an important role in surf-zone mixing and transport processes; therefore, their study is fundamental for the understanding of nearshore dynamics and the related planning and management of coastal engineering activities. Pioneering studies qualitatively described the features of breakers in the outer region of t...

La memoria riporta una sintesi del lavoro presentato dall’autore al Convegno “Cambiamento climatico: analisi e prospettive per un adattamento consapevole”, tenutosi a Mattinata il 7 settembre 2019. Vengono evidenziate le conseguenze dei cambiamenti climatici sull’alterazione delle condizioni idrologiche e delle specie e densità della vegetazione pr...

Unfortunately, more and more contaminants, such as heavy metals and other organic micro-pollutants, degrade the good ecological status of marine systems. The removal of contaminated sediments from harbours through dredging activities may cause harmful changes in the environment. This present work shows how monitoring the activity and validated nume...

Cetacean stranding events are an important source of information and biological samples, providing data on species occurrence, distribution and population dynamics as well as on mortality rate induced by human activities or natural causes. This is even truer for species such as Z. cavirostris, whose elusive behavior has made its field observation d...

Un corretto studio dell’idraulica, con le leggi attualmente note, non può prescindere dalla conoscenza degli studiosi e dei progetti che, nel corso dei secoli, hanno trasformato l’ingegneria da un’arte, spesso avente l’empirismo come sua unica dottrina, a una scienza. Solo conoscendo il passato si potranno meglio apprezzare i contributi di coloro l...

The Coastal Engineering Laboratory (LIC) of the DICATECh of the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy) maintains a place-based research program in the Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo of Taranto (a coastal system in southern Italy), providing records of hydrodynamic and water-quality measurements. This site is one of the most complex marine ecosystem mod...

A new system for estimating the synthetic parameters of sea states during physical investigations has been implemented. The technique proposed herein is based on stereographic analysis of digital images acquired with optical sensors. A series of ad hoc floating markers has been made and properly moored to the bottom of a large wave tank to estimate...

It is difficult to study fluid structure interaction (FSI) problems using analytical methods due to flow non-linearity and multiphysics. Therefore, the main emphasis for research is placed on the application and development of numerical methods. Furthermore, for consistent and accurate results, it is essential to run numerical models previously imp...

In this work, a summary of Leonardo da Vinci’s contribution in the field of fluid mechanics is reported. Some theoretical laws or fluid flows analyzed or drawn by Leonardo are highlighted, such as vortices, flow fields with obstacles, the continuity law, waves, velocity profiles in open channels, as well as some ingenious contributions in the field...

Sustainable management of coastal areas involves dealing with problems such as coastal erosion, rapid growth in the rate of urbanization, tourism, environmental degradation associated with industrial and urban activities. Besides consideration is provided for the effects of climate change, whose scenarios also have significant consequences on coast...

A forest of the black coral Antipathella subpinnata was found from 52 to 80 m depth in three different sites at Tremiti Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA; Mediterranean Sea), with two of them hosting a monospecific forest on horizontal and vertical substrates. Colonies of A. subpinnata showed a mean density between 0.22 ± 0.03 and 2.40 ± 0.26 colo...

The present paper, places emphasis on the vorticity induced by wave breaking, which greatly contributes to sediments pick up and suspension as well as to air–water exchange at the wave interface, thus deserving a thorough study. A weakly-compressible smoothed particle (WCSPH) model, coupled with a two-equation model for turbulent stresses, has been...

The present paper deals with a performance assessment of the ERA5 wave dataset in an ocean basin where local wind waves superimpose on swell waves. The evaluation framework relies on observed wave data collected during a coastal experimental campaign carried out offshore of the southern Oman coast in the Western Arabian Sea. The applied procedure r...

Numerical experiments of plane jets are performed to investigate their behaviour into a still ambient and into a flow field of regular waves. SPH simulations are obtained by a pseudo-compressible XSPH scheme with pressure smoothing; turbulent stresses are represented by a two-equation k-ε model. The SPH model is validated by comparing the obtained...

A thorough understanding of the mixing and diffusion of turbulent jets released in a wave flow field is still lacking in the literature. This issue is undoubtedly of interest because, although stagnant ambient conditions are well known, they are almost never present in real coastal environmental problems, where the presence of waves or currents is...

Experimental turbulence measurements of scour hole downstream of bed sills in alluvial channels with non-cohesive sediments are investigated. Using an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV), the flow velocity-field within the equilibrium scour hole was comprehensively measured. In this study, we especially focus on the flow hydrodynamic structure in th...

Despite the numerous studies on scouring processes, the prediction of scour-hole dimensions downstream of hydraulic structures remains challenging because of the complexity of the phenomenon and its dynamic sensitivity to structure and sediment properties. This study experimentally focuses on scour-hole development downstream of a sloped grade-cont...

In this study we focus on how understanding, through experimentation using advanced techniques, the dynamic of wave interaction with emergent vegetation. In order to achieve this objective, an experimental study of wave mention through an infinite array of emergent cylinders distributed along a channel bottom was carried out in the Coastal Laborato...

In coastal dynamics, large-scale eddies transport and spread smaller turbulent vortices both towards the sea surface, thus contributing to the processes of air-water gas transfer, and towards the sea bottom, inducing sediment pick-up and resuspension. The mechanical role of the breaking-induced vortices to the redistribution of turbulence and turbu...

This paper presents the application of a weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics model to study plane jets propagating into a still ambient and into a flow field of regular waves. The present study includes a comparative investigation of the main fluid mechanics characteristics in cases of jet discharged either in still water or transve...

Wind, waves, tides, sediment supply, changes in relative sea level and human activities strongly affect shorelines, which constantly move in response to these processes, over a variety of timescales. Thus, the implementation of sound coastal zone management strategies needs reliable information on erosion and/or deposition processes. To suggest a f...

Il mare ha da sempre avuto un ruolo fondamentale nella storia, anche come grande risorsa economica. Molte attività sono basate sul mare e sui suoi prodotti, che, pertanto, vanno salvaguardati. Questa memoria evidenzia alcune modalità corrette con cui è necessario intervenire nelle zone costiere o nell’ambiente marino, in considerazione della partic...

This paper presents the numerical simulation of single, circular, turbulent, thermal jets discharged into an ambient fluid body with a uniform cross flow. The study utilizes a 3D hydrodynamic model to predict the dynamics of the evolving jets, with the model simulations calibrated against benchmark laboratory experimental datasets. Within the numer...

The present work shows how the joint use of monitoring data and numerical models can be a significant support to dredging activities that can cause environmental impacts due to the increase of the Suspended Solid Concentration (SSC) and their subsequent dispersion and deposition far from the dredging point. A statistical analysis of the simulated p...

This paper is an extended version of the conference paper: Tognin, D.; Peruzzo, P.; De Serio, F.; Ben Meftah, M.; Carniello, L.; Defina, A.; Mossa, M. Laboratory experiments on solitary wave interaction with rigid emergent vegetation: Some preliminary results, from the 2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea, Bari, Abstract: The a...

Rivers and wastewater discharges flowing into lakes and coastal waters strongly affect aquatic ecosystems, based on their transport of turbulence, tracers and sediment particles. Mixing and spreading of outflows have an even greater impact when the receiving site is obstructed by vegetation canopies or mussel cultivation farms. Thus, a thorough kno...

The present work aims at illustrating how the joint use of monitoring data and numerical models can be beneficial in understanding coastal processes. In the first part, we show and discuss an annual dataset provided by a monitoring system installed in a vulnerable coastal basin located in Southern Italy, subjected to human and industrial pressures....

The traditional approach for coastal monitoring consists in ground investigations that are burdensome both in terms of logistics and costs, on a national or even regional scale. Earth Observation (EO) techniques can represent a cost-effective alternative for a wide scale coastal monitoring. Thanks to the all-weather day/night radar imaging capabili...

The methodology implemented has demonstrated that the statistical analysis of data remains an accurate method to characterize shoreline changes, even if it disregards potential changes due to engineering activities or major climate change.

Understanding of the role of turbulence in controlling transport processes is of paramount importance for the preservation and protection of aquatic ecosystems, the minimisation of deleterious consequences of anthropogenic activity, and the successful sustainable development of river and maritime areas. In this context, the present Special Issue co...

This document provides synthetic information for approaching and selecting fluid-structure interaction models for engineering applications, based on the different scenarios to be analysed. The study investigates, identifies and compares tradeoff between benefits and accuracy/efficiency of fluid-structure interaction software packages alternatives.

Awareness of coastal landscapes vulnerability to both natural and man-made hazards induce to monitor their evolution, adaptation, resilience and to develop appropriate defence strategies. The necessity to transform the monitoring results into useful information is the motivation of the present paper. Usually, to this scope, a coastal vulnerability...

Vegetation in channels strongly affects flow structure and turbulence, with consequences on the hydrological storage of nutrients and chemical tracers, the shelter of stream biota as well as the trapping or transport of sediments. At the same time, all these phenomena are inevitably subjected to alteration of hydrological conditions in fluvial syst...

Current monitoring programs in the nearshore region are necessary to allow a thorough knowledge of coastline erosion as well as diffusion and dispersion of polluting tracers. Collecting a large amount of data in widespread areas is challenging, because of technical and economic limitations, thus numerical models are often preferred to simulate the...

KEY POINTS • Wave breaking generates large scale Coherent vortical Structures (CS). • CS strongly control sediment motion and diffusion of tracers, thus deserving a thorough study. • CS induced by a regular plunging wave are analyzed. • Preliminary results provide information on CS location and turbulent length scales.

ASPETTI CHIAVE È analizzato il caso studio della penetrazione del moto ondoso nel Porto Turistico di San Foca Lo studio è basato sull’utilizzo sinergico di modellazione fisica e numerica I dati sperimentali sono utilizzati per la validazione di un modello numerico non idrostatico

KEY POINTS • Wave breaking generates large scale Coherent vortical Structures (CS). • CS strongly control sediment motion and diffusion of tracers, thus deserving a thorough study. • CS induced by a regular plunging wave are analyzed. • Preliminary results provide information on CS location and turbulent length scales.

KEY POINTS Turbulence measurement of a dense jet perpendicularly issued into a crossflow. Analysis of the jet-flow velocity was carried out. A new empirical closed-form expression to predict the jet trajectory is proposed. The jet-vortical structures were investigated. Analysis of the jet-flow turbulence and mixing were examined.

Wind, waves, tides, sediment supply, changes in relative sea level and human activities strongly affect shorelines, which constantly move in response to these processes, over a variety of time scales. Thus, the implementation of sound coastal zone management strategies needs reliable information on erosion and/or deposition processes. Suggesting a...

In the present work, oscillating characteristics and cyclic mechanisms in hydraulic jumps are investigated and reproduced using a weakly-compressible XSPH scheme which includes both an algebraic mixing-length model and a two-equation turbulence model to represent turbulent stresses. The numerical model is applied to analyze oscillations of differen...

Understanding of the role of turbulence in controlling transport processes is of paramount importance for the preservation and protection of aquatic ecosystems, the minimisation of deleterious consequences of anthropogenic activity, and the successful sustainable development of river and maritime areas. In this context, the present Special Issue co...

In recent years, an increasing awareness of the importance of the coastal heritage has been raised. Coastal zones represent the interface between land and sea, and are characterized by ecosystems, natural resources, historical urban centres and traditions. During the last decades, both human activities conducted in coastal areas and the occurrence...

Il mare gioca un ruolo fondamentale nella vita di tutti i giorni in modo diretto o indiretto. Si pensi, per esempio, alla sua influenza sul clima e sulle temperature sia estive che invernali, al turismo, alla pesca e alle importanti risorse naturali in esso contenute, quali per esempio petrolio e minerali. Il mare ha da sempre avuto un ruolo fondam...

Prominent among environmental problems is the pollution of the coastal marine zone as a result of anthropogenic activities. On this point, while studies of jets in still water and in crossflows have been developed in many research centres, studies on jets interacting with waves are still rare. The present study analyses turbulent, non-buoyant water...

Vegetation plays a pivotal role in fluvial and coastal flows, affecting their structure and turbulence, thus having a strong impact on the processes of transport and diffusion of nutrients and sediments, as well as on ecosystems and habitats. In the present experimental study, the attenuation of regular waves propagating in a channel through flexib...