Publications by Giovanni De Cesare

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The mouth of the Baye de Clarens torrent in Switzerland is currently constrained by lateral training walls, sequent sills and a bridge with a low hydraulic capacity. Due to a bed load trap upstream, few sediments reach the mouth. To improve flood protectio ...

Orifice spillways might be affected by cavitation if the profile of the inlet structure includes a relevant curvature. At one of the world’s largest dams, such damages were observed on the profiled slab. To limit their progression, an adapted operation regime of the gates had to be defined using physical model tests. The risk estimation was based on dynamic pressure and velocity measurements, indicating that a maximum gate opening ratio of 0.8 should be respected until the damage is repaired and the profile

The Gérine River restoration project aims to enhance its ecological functions and flood resilience by widening canalized sections. A two-dimensional numerical model using BASEMENT software was developed to simulate two design variations, each incorporating different widened channel layouts to encourage morphological development. The selected variant was further analysed for sensitivity to extreme flood events and varying sediment parameters. The simulations provided insights into preferential flow channels,

Sustainable water management is a principal matter to ensure safety of waterways (Berga, 2016). In this framework, the correction of the Martigny bend is a priority measure of the 3rd Rhone River correction in Switzerland, which aims at increasing the flood protection in the region while ensuring sustainable conditions for the Rhone River (Arborino and Jordan, 2014). The project foresees widening the bed of the river to the regime width and lowering the bed in the bend (Saugy et al., 2022). A numerical mode

Dams are civil structures essential to modern civilization. However, they can be a threat if not properly designed and operated. A particular risk that potentially can lead to dam failure is the blocking of the spillway inlet with driftwood or debris. This ...

Problem: Reservoir sedimentation occurs in dams worldwide, reducing the live storage available in the reservoirs. Possible solution: Jenzer-Althaus 2011) testes a water stirring device (called SEDMIX) that keeps sediments in suspension, enhancing its release through the power intakes of the dam reporting a high efficiency. Background studies: Numerical simulations for a prototype for the Trift reservoir have been carried out in the past by Amini et al. (2017) and Chraïbi et al. (2018), obrtaining good resul

Around 60% of Switzerland’s power production is provided by hydropower. Despite its numerous advantages, the high fluctuations in turbined discharges cause hydropeaking at downstream rivers. Due to the environmental impacts of hydropeaking on fauna and flora, the Swiss Federal Act on the Protection of Waters requires dam operators to put in place remediation measures for hydropeaking effects before the end of 2030. At the same time, the Energy Strategy 2050 and the decision on the progressive withdrawal fro

Chancy-Pougny is a run-of-river dam on the Swiss-French border constructed in the early 1920s. Since its inauguration, the operation of the four spillway gates was responsible for a progressive erosion of the stilling basin. Thus, a hybrid modelling was pe ...

The Klingnau reservoir, situated in north Switzerland, suffers from sedimentation in its left enlargement. The dam is placed in the Aare River about 1 km upstream of its confluence with the Rhine. Due to natural conservation and flood protection reasons, i ...

Increasing the flexibility of hydropower allows operators to produce at optimal time ranges, not only dependent on the demand flow but also on the price trends. However, the possibility to improve hydropower flexibility can be hindered when assets are mana ...

During floods, the bedload transport of steep headwaters can exceed the hydraulic transport capacity of milder downstream reaches where settlements are often situated. Therefore, sediment retention barriers are typically installed upstream of such sensible ...

In the present study the effect of the skew-angle of the alignment of tandem piers on local scour depth around them is investigated. The tandem piers were aligned with different skew-angles of 𝜃𝜃 = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90° with respect to the flow direction. ...

This study presents an experimental work on dynamic pressures at the bottom of a lined plunge pool that receives overflow rectangular impinging jets and aims at improving the design criteria for pool slabs. The experiments were conducted in a fairly large ...

Turbidity currents may be a relevant lever to manage the accumu-lation of fine sediments in reservoirs. In this paper, we propose to show how two different numerical codes simulate the propagation of turbidity currents. Telemac 3D and Ansys CFX 17.1 solver ...

In Europe, renewable energy sources are rapidly growing but are often linked to a highly volatile production, as for solar and wind energy. Pumped-storage plants have become very important since they can ensure grid stability and safe power supply at any m ...

The seismic performance of the Tsankov Kamak Dam is evaluated using a finite element approach in the time domain. The study investigates the impact of massless and massed foundation models, considering their influence on the dam's seismic response. The numerical model, developed in ANSYS, incorporates fluid-structure interaction, nonlinear interfaces, and the coupled damage-plasticity microplane model for mass concrete, and replaces the gated orifice spillways by interrupted upper arches. Effective earthqua

Sediment management in reservoirs situated in mountainous regions is a critical operational concern with direct implications in live storage sustainability and therefore in production revenues. The paper presents the main results of a physical model study ...

The response of concrete gravity dams under seismic loads is a major concern of dam safety assessment in earthquake-prone areas. This study focuses on the seismic analysis of the tallest non-overflow monolith of Pine Flat Dam. The paper presents results of ...

Driftwood belongs to riverine ecosystems and is stored and transported in every natural stream. Hydraulic structures built in streams typically alter the flow characteristics and might consequently get in conflict with driftwood. The latter can get trapped ...

The lifetime and efficiency of dams is endangered by the process of sedimentation. To ensure the sustainable use of reservoirs, many sediment management techniques exist, among which venting of turbidity currents. Nevertheless, a number of practical questi ...

Giovanni De Cesare

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Case study – Delta restoration at a steep river mouth

Cavitation risk estimation at orifice spillway based on UVP and dynamic pressure measurements

Optimizing Morphological Design for Ecological Restoration and Flood Resilience: A Case Study of The Gérine River, Switzerland

Morphological evolution of the Rhone River in the Martigny bend

Reservoir Level Rise under Extreme Driftwood Blockage at Ogee Crest

Computational modelling of fine sediment release using SEDMIX device with thrusters

Balancing hydropeaking mitigation and hydropower production

Hybrid modelling approach to study scour potential of Chancy-Pougny dam stilling basin

Reactivation of Klingnau reservoir sidearm: Numerical simulation of sediment release downstream

Improving hydropower flexibility by synergizing independently managed utilities

Analysis of mechanical-hydraulic bedload deposition control measures

Investigation of local scour around tandem piers for different skew-angles

Overflow pressure characterization in lined plunge pools for slab sizing

Numerical Modeling of turbidity currents with Ansys CFX and Telemac 3D

Influence of pumped-storage operation on reservoir sedimentation

Assessing the influence of foundation mass in the seismic response of Tsankov Kamak arch dam

Laboratory research: bed load guidance into sediment bypass tunnel inlet

Seismic Behavior of Pine Flat Concrete Gravity Dam Using Microplane Damage-Plasticity Model

Effect of blocked driftwood on the hydraulic performance of a gated standard weir

Management of turbidity current venting in reservoirs under different bed slopes