Dean’s Distinguished Lecture

Rafael Bras, the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair and Regents Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, will deliver a lecture titled “The Protection of Venice from Tidal Flooding: the Story of the Venice Gates” as part of the Fulton Schools Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Wednesday, February 26, 2:30-4:30 pm at the Paul C. Helmick Center (HLMK, formerly CAVC) 101 auditorium.

• Abstract: Bras will explain how Venice, Italy, fights flooding exacerbated by past subsidence and present sea level rise using a series of gates across the three inlets of the lagoon of Venice. The gates separate the Adriatic Sea from the lagoon in periods of high meteorological tides to prevent flooding.The construction of the multibillion-dollar system is complete and represents an engineering and science marvel. Completing the project has been a long road involving innovative and creative engineering, political intrigue and scandal, and triumph and vindication for the design. This talk presents the problem, discusses why this particular solution was chosen, illustrates the elements of the built system and discusses the political, social and management issues that threatened completion and the long-term survival of the city.