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An easy hydraulic monitoring system to support the road management CANTISANI A.(1), CAFARELLI R.(2), GIOSA L.(1), MILETI C.(3), SOLE A.(1), SDAO F.(4) & ALBANO R.(1) (1)

Department of Environmental Engineering and Physics, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano n. 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] (2) Domain Engineer, Via Appia n. 25, 85100 Potenza, Italy, [email protected] (3) Freelance Software Developer, via M. Buonarroti n. 2, 85100 Potenza, Italy, [email protected] (4) Department of Structures, Geotechnics, Engineering Geology, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo Lucano n. 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy, [email protected]

Abstract. The aim of this research is the construction of a system of collection, organization, storage and synchronization of information on road infrastructures as bridges and culverts. The management of these handworks with traditional tools can be compromised especially when the length of the roads is considerable. In this case, in fact, the high number of bridges and culverts requires the use of an organized group of experts involved in the data collection and organization. The effectiveness of this activity is also subject to the ability to synchronize data acquired at different times by different experts engaged in monitoring. For this reason, an hydraulic monitoring system was realized and described in this paper. It composed not only by the data acquisition module named HMS ROAD (Hydraulic Monitoring System to ROAD management) but also by the module for synchronizing data named HMSS ROAD (Hydraulic Monitoring and Synchronization System to ROAD management). The system also includes the following components: a GPS for the spatial localization, tablet PC on which you can load the HMS ROAD software and, finally, a server on which the HMSS ROAD software is loaded. The proposed monitoring system is a useful tool to support the management of the road network and the hydraulic handworks. This is because it is able to synchronize the data, it is easy to use, it can store large amounts of data, reproduce all the traditional GIS system navigation tools, return information choosing between different digital formats (.shp, .kml), create queries and automatically realize summary reports. Keywords: Hydraulic Monitoring System, Road Management. 1. Introduction. Bridges and culverts are the structures that are constructed at intersections of roads and drainage network. They allow water to flow between the areas located upstream and those downstream of the road. A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle and a culvert is a closed conduit used to convey water from one area to another, usually from one side of a road to the other side. The size of these structures are designed according to the precautionary discharge that may occur for example once every 100 years or more. Even when the size is properly designed, the inlet can be significantly reduced in the case of accumulation of material or vegetation, or even waste. In the presence of partial or total occlusion of the inlet, the discharge cannot drain downstream but back upstream causing, in some cases, the overlap of the bridge or of the culvert and the flooding of the road. Another important aspect is the state of preservation of the hydraulic structure since it influences the safety of the road network. Among the hydraulically critical situations we can list the structural failure of the culverts or of the deck and abutment of the bridges and the piers scour. To these one can add problems of the structures that usually are constructed to protect the bridge or the culvert. They are inline or lateral weirs that may present instabilities due to the action of the water, to a poor construction or even due to lack of maintenance. How long roads are considered, the construction of an effective monitoring system is essential to ensure a reasonable data acquisition times, the collection of organized information and easy database query. About the time is more useful to organize groups of experts engaged in the survey but, in this case, the information must be well synchronized. 2. The monitoring model. A monitoring system of hydraulic structures is proposed in this paper. Its main components are the acquisition and organization data model and synchronization model. The first is loaded on a tablet PC that experts use during their surveys and the second is loaded on a server. The system also includes a GPS. 2.1. Data acquisition model. Data acquisition model is named HMS ROAD (Hydraulic Monitoring System to ROAD management). It was developed with .NET Framework 4.0 using C# programming language [1,2] and the data access layer was implemented using Entity Framework 4.0 [3]. The persistence of the data was carried out by DBMS Sql Server Express 2008. This software allows the mapping management and the editing of dynamic layers from the user too. First, the model displays a map of the study area visible at multiple levels of zoom and allows you to instantly identify your position using a GPS. So you can acquire the geographic coordinates of each hydraulic structure. The survey is the establishment of a photographic dossier and monograph made with computer graphics tools as well as the definition of geometric properties and quality. The geometrical information concerning the height, the width and the shape of the deck, piers, abutments and foundations of bridges, the size and shape of culverts and the size of weirs. Data quality refers to the Colloque International des Utilisateurs de SIG, Taza GIS-Days, 23-24 Mai 2012 Recueil des Résumés

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condition of the structures (good, sufficient and poor), to the material (concrete, brick, …) and to the level (high, medium and low) and cause of obstruction (weeds, stones or trash) (Fig. 1). In addition the geometrical and morphological information of the river in the neighborhood of the handwork complete the set of data.

Fig. 1 HMS ROAD. Localization of a culvert on the map (on the left) with a photo of the outlet section (on the right). 2.2. Data synchronization model. Data synchronization model is named HMSS ROAD (Hydraulic Monitoring and Synchronization System to ROAD management). Also the HMSS ROAD software was developed with .NET Framework 4.0 and using C# programming language [1], but the ADO.NET technology was used for access to the layer of persistence. When a tablet PC begins communicating with the server, it first download its data on the server and then upload the information that the server has already been stored by all the tablet which has been connected up to that point. In this way all the tablets are constantly updated and synchronized with the server. Furthermore, the data management is more effective since on each tablet PC the same data are loaded and the users are independent of the specific hardware used. 3. Results and conclusions. The hydraulic monitoring system is being tested on the road network of the district of Potenza (Southern Italy). This road network is about 3,000 km long and is characterized by 2350 intersections with the river network. The information collected in situ relates to both bridges/culverts and rivers. 50% of the roads has been analyzed to date and 992 culverts and 318 bridges have been monitored. Partial results of the culverts are summarized in the following table. The most common problems relate to the obstruction due to weeds, stones or trash. Percentage (%) Culvert without obstructions 73 Culvert with obstruction less than 50% 15 Culvert with obstruction greater than 50% 10 Culvert completely blocked 2 Table 1. Partial results of the culverts About the bridges, we observed all their constituent elements and we have verified that 27% of the spans and 8% of the abutments are in poor condition. In a few cases we have seen significant erosion at the foot of the piers. Although the activity is not yet complete, you can still see which are the most common critical hydraulic situations on the road network. At the end of the monitoring you can assign a class of vulnerability in each road section as a function of critical hydraulic situation observed [4,5,6]. This will help the authorities responsible for road maintenance since they will have a useful database from which to draw to determine which actions achieve and their priorities. An important feature of the system is the ability to update. In this way you can reduce the level of vulnerability as a result of maintenance on the bridges or culverts or increase the level when the structure undergoes a deterioration over time. References [1] C. Nagel, B. Evjen, J. Glynn, K. Watson, M. Skinner, Professional C# 4 and .NET 4. Wiley Publishing, Inc, Indianapolis (2010). [2] A. Troelsen, Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4 Platform, Fifth Edition, Apress (2010). [3] Microsoft, Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide (2004). [4] A. Sole, R. Albano, S. Pascale, L. Giosa, F. Sdao & A. Sivertun, “A decision-making support model for systemic vulnerability assessment in urbanized areas”, 28th Urban Data Management Symposium, September 28-30, 2011, Delft, ISBN 978-0-41s-67491, (pp. 211-219). [5] F. Sdao, A. Sole S. Pascale, L. Giosa, “Systemic vulnerability in urban areas exposed to combined risk of landslide and flood”, Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment, 2010, DOI: 10.4408/IJEGE, 2011 – 01. S – 11. [6] B. C. Ezell, J.V Farr, I. Wiese, “Infrastructure risk analysis model. Journal of infrastructure system”, Journal of infrastructure system, 2000, (pp.114-117).

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