78593 - GROUNDWATER AND CONTAMINATION PROCESSES

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course provides fundamentals of subsurface flow and transport, emphasizing the primary role of groundwater in the hydrologic cycle, the relation of groundwater flow to hydrogeological properties, and the management of contaminated groundwater. Effective methods for the prediction and interpretation of groundwater processes will be discussed together with engineering implications. These include basics of infrastructure design related to the subsurface environment. Particular attention will be reserved to well hydraulics having several implications in water exploitation, monitoring and remediation. Description and analysis of both synthetic and real case studies will provide the opportunity to jointly apply concepts and methods discussed during the course.

Contenuti

Requirements/Prior knowledge

A prior knowledge and understanding of calculus and hydraulics is required to attend with profit this course.

Fluent spoken and written English is a necessary pre-requisite: all lectures and tutorials, and all study material will be in English.

Course content

1) Groundwater hydraulics. Aquifer properties. Flow modeling under stationary and transient conditions.

2) Well hydraulics and design of well fields. Field tests interpretation.

3) Transport processes in porous media. Transport modeling: conservative and reactive transport.

4) Aquifers contamination and basics of the design of groundwater remediation strategies.

5) Interpretation of tracer tests. Monitoring of groundwater systems.

6) Examination of case studies.

Testi/Bibliografia

Required reading

Class notes available at http://campus.cib.unibo.it.

Recommended reading

J. Bear: Hydraulics of Groundwater. McGraw-Hill, 1979.

C.W. Fetter, Applied Hydrogeology, Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall, 2001.

G. de Marsily, Quantitative Hydrogeology: Groundwater Hydrology for Engineers, Academic Press, Inc., 1986.

Metodi didattici

The course contents are entirely covered by the lectures. Exercises are proposed during the course to provide the basis for the realization of a project that students will develop as an extended homework.

The course contents are entirely covered by the lectures. Exercises are proposed during the course to provide the basis for the realization of a project that students will develop in small groups as an extended homework.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Achievements will be assessed by means of an oral exam. This is based on the assessment of the "expected learning outcomes" described above.

In order to properly assess such achievement the oral examination is composed of two different sections, i) discussion of the homework; ii) assessment of the knowledge of the topics covered in the course.

The homework consists of two separate assignments, one on groundwater flow, and the other on transport in porous media. Each assignment involves handling of field data via spreadsheet or numerical codes (e.g. MODFLOW). Each assignment is scored separately, and the average is taken to derive the homework's mark.

In the evaluation, higher grades will be awarded to students who demonstrate a physical understanding of the subject, high quantitative skills, and a clear and concise presentation of the contents.

To obtain a passing grade, students are required to at least demonstrate a knowledge of the key concepts of the subject, some quantitative skills, and a comprehensible use of technical language.

A failing grade will be awarded if the student shows knowledge gaps in key-concepts of the subject, scarce physical understanding, and no quantitative skills.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The teaching tools are the overhead projector and PC.

Class transparencies are available at: http://campus.cib.unibo.it/

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Vittorio Di Federico