Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM): a review of published case studies

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is gaining popularity worldwide as a system of collaboration and data management for the AEC sectors. However, the usefulness of BIM has largely been seen in the design and construction phases, rather than in post-construction - for example in facilities management or occupancy. As the concept of BIM has matured, there has been increasing interest in applying these concepts and technologies to heritage buildings (HBIM), despite some fundamental differences: heritage buildings usually have a long history of use, re-use and alteration; their management is often related to conservation rather than occupancy; and they are often a social and community resource. Therefore, HBIM is faced with a different set of stakeholders to ‘standard BIM’, which leads us to question the optimistic perceptions of its usefulness when BIM is applied to a historic built environment context. We investigate this question by thinking about how we can characterise HBIM, and what sort of information will give us further insights. Using published case studies as a source of secondary data, we have collected information about specific characteristics, which we analyse and use to discuss the uptake of HBIM, the purpose of HBIM and the role of stakeholders. We conclude that there needs to be a significant change in perception of HBIM by academics and technicians, before it is likely to be adopted by practitioners in the heritage sector

Towards the de\ufb01nition of a new river water line for North-Eastern Italy

In the last decades there has been active research on the relation between the stable isotopic composition of precipitation and climate variations at the regional scale. Particularly, the analysis of meteoric water lines is an important tool to understand climate processes at the local/regional scale. In this view, considering the strict relation between the isotopic composition of river water and the one of precipitation, surface running waters (i.e. rivers, streams, creeks) and their catchments can be considered as \u201cnatural pluviometers\u201d. In this study the analysis of the isotopic composition of surface waters was carried out in order to develop a new meteoric water line of North-East Italy. The dataset includes samples collected between 2012 and 2016 from i) small catchments, typically < 30 Km2 (Ressi Creek, Bridge Creek and Vauz Creek, Noce Bianco stream, Posina river), where it is easier to relate the stream water isotopic composition to distinct meteoric end-members (e.g., rainfall,snowmeltandglaciermelt);andii)largebasins(Adige:12,100Km2 andPo:71,000Km2)whichintegrate multiple components giving information at the regional scale. Preliminary results show that distinct river water lines are characterized by different slopes and intercepts. The slopes vary between 5.46 and 8.02, whereas the intercepts vary between -9.15 and 11.82. In particular river meteoricwaterlinesde\ufb01nedforRessiCreek(\u3b4Dh\uaf7.48 \u3b418O+10.27,n=831;R2 =0.88)andNoceBiancostream (\u3b4Dh\uaf7.66 \u3b418O+7.27, n=484; R2 = 0.95) con\ufb01rm the similarity with the meteoric line developed for northern Italy. On the contrary, the isotopic composition of streams in small (< 10 Km2) snow-dominated catchments (Bridge Creek and Vauz Creek) deviate from the North Italy meteoric line due to the important contribution of snowmelt that is typically characterized by a different isotopic signature compared to the precipitation input. River water lines for large basins (Po and Adige) are characterized by slopes and intercepts in the range of the Global Meteoric Water Line. Finally, it is important to emphasize that the current dataset, progressively updated, represents a snapshot of a short monitoring period and that future investigations are useful to highlight seasonal variations and on-going environmental changes

Processes space-time variability and hydrological response of headwater catchments: role of rainfall, vegetation and antecedent conditions

This thesis aims to enhance the understanding of the hydrological functioning of headwater catchments by focusing on i) how rainfall patterns controls spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture, and ii) how the soil moisture variability provide a control to the catchment response. A first analysis of the spatial variability of soil moisture was carried out for data at 0-30 and 0-60 cm depth collected on a plot in Grugliasco (Po Plain, Northern Italy), characterized by two land uses (meadow and vineyard). Results showed that the differences in spatial mean and variability of soil moisture for the meadow and the vineyard are likely due to the different vegetation cover. Evaluation of the main physical controls on the spatial mean and the variability of soil moisture was carried out by using a simple bucket model. The model was calibrated by using spatial mean soil moisture and it had a relatively good prediction capability. The model was also shown to be able to capture the main differences between the two sites in terms of spatial variability of soil moisture. The spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture was also analyzed in relation to throughfall spatial patterns in plot on a forested hillslope in the Italian pre-Alps. Throughfall was measured using two types of throughfall collectors: buckets and rain gauges. The collectors differed in size, number and spatial arrangement. Results showed that buckets and rain gauges measured similar throughfall amounts during rainfall events. However, findings indicate that different collectors can lead to differences in the quantified spatial variability of throughfall and presence of local clusters and outliers. Near-surface soil moisture was measured upslope of each bucket, at 0-7 and 0-12 cm depth before and after rainfall events. Throughfall and soil moisture spatial patterns were not significantly or only weakly correlated, likely due to the lateral and vertical redistribution of water in the soil profile during the 2-36 hour period between the end of the rainfall event and the start of the soil moisture measurements. The temporal stability of soil moisture was larger than the temporal stability of throughfall and they were also not significantly correlated. The patterns of temporal stability were also not related to canopy characteristics (i.e., canopy openness and leaf area index). The application of the simple bucket model revealed that a large spatial variability in saturated hydraulic conductivity that is correlated with the spatial variability in leaf area index and root fraction weaken the correlation between throughfall and soil moisture patterns. The analysis of field data combined with the model application suggests that in this specific forested hillslope the spatial organization of soil moisture is dominated by a combination of soil properties and vegetation characteristics, rather than by the throughfall spatial patterns. Saturation at the soil-bedrock interface or the rise of shallow groundwater into more permeable soil layers results in subsurface stormflow and can lead to hillslope-stream connectivity. Networks of spatially-distributed piezometers in five small headwater catchments in the Italian Dolomites and the Swiss pre-Alps were used to quantify and compare the spatial and temporal variability of subsurface connectivity and its relation to streamflow dynamics. Results showed that the time that piezometers were connected to the stream was significantly correlated to the topographic wetness index, for two Swiss pre-alpine catchments, or to the distance to the nearest stream, for the dolomitic catchment with the largest riparian zone. During rainfall events, mainly anti-clockwise hysteretic relations between streamflow and the area that was connected to the stream were observed. Threshold-like relations between maximum connectivity and total stormflow and between maximum connectivity and the sum of total rainfall plus antecedent rainfall were more evident for the dolomitic catchments, where the riparian zone is characterized by a groundwater table near the soil surface. These preliminary results suggest that the delayed increase in subsurface connectivity relative to streamflow is likely not affected by the presence of a riparian zone. However, further analyses are needed to determine if morphology of the catchments affect the observed relations between subsurface connectivity and total stormflow. Finally, this thesis attempted to develop an index for the quantification of hysteretic loops between hydrological variables at the runoff event timescale. The index provides information on the direction, the shape and the extent of the loop. The index was tested with synthetic data and field data from experimental catchments in Northern Italy. Hysteretic relations between streamflow and soil moisture, depth to water table, isotopic composition and electrical conductivity of stream water were correctly identified and quantified by the index. The sensitivity of the index to the temporal resolution of the measurements and measurement errors was also tested. The index can successfully quantify hysteresis, except for very noisy data or when the temporal resolution of the measurements is not well suited to study hysteresis between the variables. Overall, this metric can be used to test if models reproduce temporal variability in hysteresis or to compare hydrological responses in different catchments or at different spatial scales

Brief communication: Mountain permafrost acts as an aquitard during an infiltration experiment monitored with electrical resistivity tomography time-lapse measurements

Frozen layers within the subsurface of rock glaciers are generally assumed to act as aquicludes or aquitards. So far, this behavior has been mainly defined by analyzing the geochemical characteristics of spring waters. In this work, for the first time, we experimentally confirmed this assumption by executing an infiltration test in a rock glacier of the Southern Alps, Italy. Time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) technique monitored the infiltration of 800 L of saltwater released on the surface of the rock glacier; 24 h ERT monitoring highlighted that the injected water was not able to infiltrate into the underlying frozen layer.</p

Towards Improved Understanding of Land Use Effect on Soil Moisture Variability: Analysis and Modeling at the Plot Scale

AbstractUnderstanding and characterizing the soil moisture spatial variability and its relevant physical controls is a main challenge in hydrological sciences. In this work we examine the spatial variability characteristics of soil moisture data at 0-30cm depth collected over three years (2006-2008) on a plot (about 200 m2) in Grugliasco (Po Plain, Northern Italy) by means of 21 Time Domain Reflectometry probes. The plot is divided into two subplots: one covered by grapevine plants, the other covered homogeneously by grass. The site is almost flat and the soil is sandy. The characteristics of the site allow to isolate he contribution of soil hydraulic properties and land use to soil moisture variability. Examination of the data shows higher soil moisture values in the vineyard han in the meadow, implying the influence of vegetation cover during the growing season; correspondingly, the spatial soil moisture variability is systematically lower in the vineyard than in the meadow. Evaluation of the main physical controls on the spatia mean and the variability of soil moisture is carried out by using a simple bucket model, forced by using local rainfal and evapotranspiration data. The model is calibrated by using mean soil moisture daily time series over one year for the two sites. The model accuracy is verified for the other two years, showing a relatively good prediction capability The model is also shown to be able to capture the main differences between the two sites in terms of spatia variability

Depth distribution of soil water sourced by plants at the global scale : a new direct inference approach

Funding Information Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo. Grant Number: Bando Starting Grants 2015Peer reviewedPostprin

The estimation of young water fraction based on isotopic signals: challenges and recommendations

Young water fraction (Fyw) is defined as the fraction of water in a stream with a transit time of less than 2–3 months. Fyw is a metric used to quantify the proportion of precipitation input converted into the runoff in the form of fast flow, which provides new insights for characterizing the mechanisms of water storage and release, understanding the time-scale of ecohydrological processes and indicating water-related risks. However, Fyw has been advanced for a relatively short time, and the research on its applicability conditions and main drivers is still ongoing. Studies estimating Fyw are still very few and this index has not been reported in many landscapes and climate backgrounds, limiting its further application in hydrological studies. On the basis of summarizing the progresses of Fyw in previous studies, this paper provides a preliminary analysis of the potential uncertainties in the Fyw estimation, which can be due to temporal trends in the isotopic composition of precipitation, uneven sampling interval of stream water, and complex hydrological systems. Finally, this paper provides some recommendations for the optimization of the sampling design and the methods used for the Fyw estimation