Controlling polders by Fusegate™ technology for river flood risk management

In these years general river basin planning is going to be completed by italian river basin Authorities. The use of river polders for flood control is resulting to be one of the main issues in these plans. The technology for these devices becomes a critical point particularly as far as smaller catchment areas are concerned, e.g. the Arno River, where time scales for river flood rising waves are, especially for the tributaries, in the order of the hours. In these cases, the use of electromechanical devices in controlling inlet and outlet discharge of these flood control areas can result unacceptable because of the costs related to a satisfactory reliability level. On the other side it is renown that the use of classic static solutions viz. a free sill on a classic side weir, result in a lack of efficiency in the use of the polder. The search of reliable regulation devices, only driven by gravity and water pressure and thus independent by any external energy source and human control, is therefore an important point in present hydraulic research.