Publications by Davide Wüthrich

Experimental and Numerical Study on Scour-Protection Methods in a Stilling Basin: Case Study of Chancy-Pougny Dam

Giovanni De Cesare, Erik Bollaert, Anton Schleiss, Sabine Chamoun, Davide Wüthrich

Chancy-Pougny is a run-of-river dam on the Swiss–French border constructed in the early 1920s. Since its commissioning, the operation of the four spillway gates has been responsible for a progressive erosion of the stilling basin. The future scour potentia ...

2021

Impact hydrodynamique des vagues contre les bâtiments

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich

Les tsunamis, les vagues d'impulsion et les ruptures de barrages représentent des phénomènes extrêmes qui mettent en danger la vie des personnes et la fonctionnalité des infrastructures. Des événements récents dans l'Océan Indien (2004), au Japon (2011) et ...

2020

Forces on buildings with openings and orientation in a steady post-tsunami free-surface flow

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich

Steady free-surface flows around buildings occurring during flood or tsunami events can produce major damages and a quantification of the post-peak forces is essential for safety and resilience of coastal structures. The loading process is highly affected ...

2020

Effect of debris damming on wave-induced hydrodynamic loads against free-standing buildings with openings

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Claudia Ylla Arbos

Tsunamis, impulse waves, and dam-break waves are rare but catastrophic events, associated with casualties and damage to infrastructures. An adequate description of these waves is vital to assure human safety and to generate resilient structures. Furthermor ...

2020

Effect of building overtopping on induced loads during extreme hydrodynamic events

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Ioan Nistor

Tsunamis, impulse-waves and dam-break waves have affected humanity in recent decades and the construction of vertical shelters can provide safety to people. However, for non-critical infrastructures, typically residential houses of lower height, overtoppin ...

Taylor & Francis Ltd2019

Experimental and numerical study on wave-impact on buildings

Giovanni De Cesare, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Shun Nomura

Unsteady flows such as tsunamis, impulse waves and dam-break waves can lead to damages and human losses. Hence, specific research to limit casualties and reconstruction costs is needed. The complexity of the phenomena involved suggests that a hybrid experi ...

2019

Effect of bed roughness on tsunami-like waves and induced loads on buildings

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich

Tsunami, impulse-waves and dam-break waves afflict humanity with casualties and damages. An insight into the flow mechanisms of these waves is important to provide safety and reduce reconstruction costs. This experimental study focuses on the effect of bed ...

2019

Numerical approach in the study of tsunami-like waves and comparison with experimental data

Giovanni De Cesare, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Shun Nomura

A comprehensive understanding of physical phenomena based on a hybrid experimental-numerical approach supports a safer design of critical infrastructures. However, for large-scale tsunami-like waves, the reliability of numerical models was insufficiently v ...

2019

Extreme Hydrodynamic impact onto buildings

Davide Wüthrich

Dam failures, impulse waves, tsunamis and storm surges are disasters that challenge humanity, often leading to massive casualties and important economic losses. These events generate highly unsteady flow conditions in the form of surges or turbulent bores, ...

EPFL2018

Hybrid Modelling Approach to Study Scour Potential at Chancy-Pougny Dam Stilling Basin

Giovanni De Cesare, Erik Bollaert, Anton Schleiss, Sabine Chamoun, Davide Wüthrich

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 ...

Springer2018

Experimental study on the hydrodynamic impact of tsunami-like waves against impervious free-standing buildings

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Ioan Nistor

Tsunamis, landslide-generated waves, and dam failures are rare, but highly destructive phenomena, associated with extreme loading on infrastructure. Recent events showed that specific measures must be taken to guarantee safety of both people and the built ...

2018

Experimental study on forces exerted on buildings with openings due to extreme hydrodynamic events

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Ioan Nistor

Previous studies and field surveys showed that specific structural designs can decrease the load on free-standing buildings along the coast, providing safer vertical shelters. This experimental study investigated the effect of openings in buildings (window ...

2018

Experimental Study of Tsunami-Like Waves Generated with a Vertical Release Technique on Dry and Wet Beds

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Ioan Nistor

Tsunamis, impulse waves, and dam failures are disasters that challenge humanity, often leading to massive casualties and extreme economic losses. The highly unsteady flow conditions generated by such events are often in the form of turbulent bores. The pur ...

2018

Wave impact on oriented impervious buildings

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Claudia Ylla Arbos

Recent studies showed that a speciﬁc design can reduce the impact of water waves on structures, thus limiting the damages. Herein the impact of waves on buildings is addressed, pointing out the inﬂuence of orientation on the hydrodynamic process. ...

Aronne Armanini and Elena Nucci2018

Behaviour of a scour protection overlay with randomly distributed concrete prisms in plunge pools downstream of mobile barrages for exceptional operation conditions

Giovanni De Cesare, Anton Schleiss, Pedro Filipe De Almeida Manso, Sabine Chamoun, Davide Wüthrich

Uncontrolled scour is affecting multiple mobile dams. The plunge pool of the Chancy-Pougny barrage, located on the Rhone River bordering France and Switzerland, has recently been reported to develop in a potentially unfavourable direction after almost 100 ...

2018

Protection de la fosse de dissipation du barrage de Chancy-Pougny avec prismes en béton

Giovanni De Cesare, Anton Schleiss, Sabine Chamoun, Davide Wüthrich

La fosse de dissipation à l’aval du barrage de Chancy-Pougny qui fait face à une érosion progressive est l’objet de cette étude. Un modèle physique a été construit à l’échelle 1:55 afin de mieux comprendre les sources de cette érosion. Due à l’asymétrie gé ...

Société hydrotechnique de France2017

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

Giovanni De Cesare, Erik Bollaert, Anton Schleiss, Sabine Chamoun, Davide Wüthrich

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 ...

2017

Estimation of wave propagation velocity on a channel with smooth and rough bed

Anton Schleiss, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich, Ioan Nistor

Natural hazards such as tsunamis, impulse waves and dam-break waves are rare, but extremely destructive. In recent times, more importance was given to structures that could withstand such events, however, uncertainties still exist in the estimation of wave ...

2017

IMPACT OF A DRY BED SURGE AGAINST STRUCTURES WITH AND WITHOUT OPENINGS

Davide Wüthrich

Tsunamis, Impulse waves and the sudden collapse of dams are rare phenomena, but highly destructive. Nevertheless recent events showed that structures with openings can effectively reduce impact forces, ensuring people’s safety and limiting reconstruction c ...

2017

Surface Turbulence on Bores and Surges propagating on Smooth and Rough Beds

Anton Schleiss, Pedro Filipe De Almeida Manso, Michael Pfister, Davide Wüthrich

Hydrodynamic waves are characterised by unsteady, highly turbulent and irregular behaviours. In nature, such phenomena can be observed in dam breaks, impulse waves and tsunamis. Both wet bed bores and dry bed surges were experimentally reproduced on smooth ...

2016