Unit SOIL BIOENGINEERING APPLICATION AND SOIL SCIENCE
- Course
- Agricultural and environmental sciences
- Study-unit Code
- 80022009
- Curriculum
- Verde ornamentale
- Teacher
- Alberto Agnelli
- CFU
- 9
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2018
- Offered
- 2020/21
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa integrata
NATURALISTIC ENGINEERING
Code | 80220206 |
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CFU | 6 |
Teacher | Alberto Agnelli |
Teachers |
|
Hours |
|
Learning activities | Affine/integrativa |
Area | Attività formative affini o integrative |
Academic discipline | AGR/08 |
Type of study-unit | Obbligatorio (Required) |
Language of instruction | Italian |
Contents | Soil bio-engineering: definitions, objectives, functions and application areas. Historical notes and normative. Design phases and data required. Materials used in the interventions. Vegetation characteristics. Quantification of the forces acting on the structures. Description of the main soil bio-engineering techniques for watershed and stream restoration. |
Reference texts | - G. Benini, Sistemazioni idraulico-forestali, UTET 1990 - Manuale di ingegneria naturalistica della provincia di Terni, available online http://cms.provincia.terni.it/on-line/Home/Ilterritorio/Urbanistica/docCatManualeIngegneriaNaturalistica.1740.1.50.1.1.html - Soil bioengineering handbook, https://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/highwaydesign/documents/StreamlineSoilBioEng.pdf - Notes provided by the lecturer |
Educational objectives | The aim of the course is to provide the knowledge and the skills needed to apply watershed management techniques also by soil bioengineering measures. Knowledges: 1- flow rate measure and modelization. 2- Watershed morphometry .3- Stream characteristics. 4- Vegetation and water flow interactions. 5- Stream equilibrium slope. 6- factors affecting soil water erosion. 7. Soil-biongineering methods and techniques for watershed reclamation. 8- Principles of hydrostatics, hydro kinematics of surface water and drainage. Skills: 1- Acquisition and interpretation of the cartography of a territory. 2- Acquisition of climatic, vegetational, hydrological and pedological data. 3- Design and check of open channels. 4- Quantification of the hydrostatic thrusts. 5- Measurement of water discharge and construction of rating curves. 6- evaluate the suitability of the interventions in relation to the characteristics of the area. Behaviours: 1- active contribution to the course lectures. 2- capability to find suitable technical solutions. |
Prerequisites | In order to better understand the topics covered in the teaching, the student must have knowledge of physic and hydrology. |
Teaching methods | The course is structured as follows: Theoretical lessons dealing with all the issues of the course. The course includes some lessons related to practical training. These are both individual and group exercises that will be sometimes held in the computer room where the students can solve complex or long mathematical calculations by using calculation sheets. |
Other information | Scheduling of lectures and examinations available at: http://dsa3.unipg.it/ |
Learning verification modality | The final examination includes an oral exam consisting of a discussion lasting about 40 minutes aimed at ascertaining the level of knowledge and understanding achieved by the student on the theoretical and methodological topics listed in the program. The examination also includes simple exercises and technical calculations. The oral exam will also test the communication skill of the student. |
Extended program | Lectures: Soil bio-engineering: definition, aims, historical development, technical limits. Normative. Water currents on open channels in the case of uniform flow. Description of the main phenomena that determine slope and river instability. The pre-planning phases of the soil bio-engineering interventions: cartography of the intervention area, vegetation surveys, hydrological report (for riverbed interventions), geo-pedological and climatic characterization. The materials used in the works: live materials, natural and artificial organic and inorganic materials (timber, geotextiles, vegetable soil, soil improvers, stones). Biotechnical characteristics of the plant species used in soil bio-engineering. Quantification of the forces acting on the structures: hydrostatic thrust, free surface currents and their drag force. Measurement of the flow rates in the canals (weir, hydrometers, rating curves). The phreatic and artesian aquifers. Drainage systems. Factors affecting slope stability and quantification of soil thrust. Bioengineering techniques for soil protection against erosion and shallow landslides (seeding, hydroseeding, geotextiles, mulching, steel nets, live fascine, brushlayers, branchpacking, live gully repair, live cribwalls). Bioengineering techniques for stream protection and reclamation by transversal and longitudinal structures (stone weirs, wooden-stone weirs, wooden weirs, vegetated rock gabions, vegetated rock walls) Interactions between water flow and vegetation. Maintenance of riparian vegetation. Maintenance of structures. Training: quantification of hydraulic thrusts, channel design, determination of the rating curves. Design of drainage structures. Determination of the number and high of weirs. |
SOIL SCIENCE
Code | 80220203 |
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CFU | 3 |
Teacher | Alberto Agnelli |
Teachers |
|
Hours |
|
Learning activities | Affine/integrativa |
Area | Attività formative affini o integrative |
Academic discipline | AGR/14 |
Type of study-unit | Obbligatorio (Required) |
Language of instruction | Italian |
Contents | The main objective is to provide the students with the basic knowledge on the fundamental processes of soil genesis, the relationships between soil and environmental factors, the study of the soil in the field, cartography. |
Reference texts | Dazzi C. - Fondamenti di pedologia. Ed. Le Penseur Sequi P. - Fondamenti di chimica del suolo, Patron Editore Nyle C. Brady e Ray R. Weil - Nature and properties of soils. Prentice Hall. USA |
Educational objectives | The course takes into consideration the basic elements which constitute the soil resource and its functioning. The main objective is to provide the students with all the elements to manage the soil in a sustainable way. The main acquired knowledge will be: factors of soil formation, chemical and physical alteration of minerals, role of soil biota, soil organic matter cycle. At the end of the course the students should be able to to interpret the morphological and analitycal information useful to evaluate the soil quality and the environmental sustainability of a given soil use. |
Prerequisites | In order to better understand the topics covered in the teaching, the student must have knowledge of chemistry, agronomy, botany and microbiology. |
Teaching methods | The course is organized as follows: -lessons in the classroom on all the topics of the course -practical training in the classroom (cartography) and in the field: opening of soil profiles, soil description, interpretation of the morphological data |
Other information | Attending the lessons is optional, but strongly advised. Lesson will be held at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Borgo XX Giugno 74, Perugia. Other info at http://dsa3.unipg.it |
Learning verification modality | The final examination includes an oral exam consisting of a discussion lasting about 40 minutes, aimed at ascertaining the level of knowledge and understanding achieved by the student on the theoretical and methodological topics listed in the program. The examination also includes reading and interpretation of topographic maps. The oral exam will also test the communication skill of the student. |
Extended program | Role of the soil in the environment Name and description of the soil horizons Factors of soil formation Soil mineralogy Soil organic matter Soil physical and chemical properties Basics of map reading |