Hydraulic Analysis of the Suitable Construction Solutions in the Middle Tiber River

The hydraulic safety of the historic centre of Rome is guaranteed by preventing flooding events of the Tiber River by the embankment walls called “Muraglioni”. For this reason, it is necessary to maintain the flood attenuation capacity ensured by the flooding of the floodplain areas upstream of the city. The urban developments of these areas are sustainable only by hydraulics engineering infrastructures aimed at controlling the flood in the floodplain areas in case of 100-year and 200-year return time meteoric and hydraulic extreme events. This work presents the engineering solutions and the results of the hydraulics analysis carried out on making compatible road infrastructures and flood protection infrastructures in the territory, such as river embankments and detention basins. The Tiber River has been studied to respect this target, setting up a one-dimensional numerical model using HEC-RAS and a two-dimensional model using SMS and BAS.E.MENT software. The numerical simulations of floods have been carried out with a 200-year return time in the several phases of construction of the infrastructures in the area. The analysis identified the most suitable design choices, saving the neighbouring Rome metropolitan area from increasing hydraulic risks.