GPR applications for geotechnical stability of transportation infrastructures

Nowadays, severe meteorological events are always more frequent all over the world. This causes a strong impact on the environment such as numerous landslides, especially in rural areas. Rural roads are exposed to an increased risk for geotechnical instability. In the meantime, financial resources for maintenance are certainly decreased due to the international crisis and other different domestic factors. In this context, the best allocation of funds becomes a priority: efficiency and effectiveness of plans and actions are crucially requested. For this purpose, the correct localisation of geotechnically instable domains is strategic. In this paper, the use of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) for geotechnical inspection of pavement and sub-pavement layers is proposed. A three-step protocol has been calibrated and validated to allocate efficiently and effectively the maintenance funds. In the first step, the instability is localised through an inspection at traffic speed using a 1-GHz GPR horn launched antenna. The productivity is generally about or over 300 Km/day. Data are processed offline by automatic procedures. In the second step, a GPR inspection restricted to the critical road sections is carried out using two coupled antennas. One antenna is used for top pavement inspection (1.6 GHz central frequency) and a second antenna (600 MHz central frequency) is used for sub-pavement structure diagnosis. Finally, GPR data are post-processed in the time and frequency domains to identify accurately the geometry of the instability. The case study shows the potentiality of this protocol applied to the rural roads exposed to a landslide

DPW Potentials for Compact Symmetric CMC Surfaces in S3\mathbb{S}^3

Inspired by the work of Heller [12], we show that there exists a DPW potential for the Lawson surface $\xi_{k-1, l-1}$ from which it is possible to reconstruct the minimal immersion $f: \xi_{k-1, l-1} \to \mathbb{S}^3$ via the DPW method. Moreover, we extend the result to surfaces immersed in the 3-sphere with constant mean curvature which satisfy a certain symmetric condition.Comment: 20 pages, to appear in Journal of Geometry and Physic

Renewable hydrogen potential for low-carbon retrofit of the building stocks

Energy-related GHG emissions, mainly from fossil fuels combustion, account for around 70% of total emissions. Those emissions are the target of the recent sustainability policies. Indeed, renewables exploitation is considered widely the weapon to deal with this challenge thanks to their carbon neutrality. But, the biggest drawback is represented by the mismatching between their production and users consumption. The storage would be a possible solution, but its viability consists of economic sustainability and energy process efficiency as well. The cutting edge technologies of batteries have not still solved these issues at the same time. So, a paradigm shift towards the identification of an energy carrier as storage option, the so called Power-to-Gas, could be the viable solution. From viability to feasibility, a mandatory step is required: the opportunity to integrate the new solution in the proven infrastructures system. Thus, the recent studies on Hydrogen (H2) enrichment in Natural Gas, demonstrating a lower environmental impact and an increase in energy performance, are the base to build the hydrogen transition in the urban environment. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental benefits at building and district scale