Turbulence

Being a city built on a lagoon, transportation is mainly limited to boating or walking. As gondolas became outdated and more of a novelty, Venice began to rely heavily on motorized waterbuses called "vaporetti." These waterbuses remain the primary method of transportation for the 271,000 residents and nearly seven million tourists venturing to Venice yearly. The main issue is that the means these motorboats use to stop is to propel in reverse, which creates a massive amount of energy in the water that barrages on the canal walls. Not to mention the use of the canals for transporting goods and for other public services, the resulting damage is becoming exponentially worse. As the city is divided by islands, there is no other method of transportation except by water, and thus the motorboats continue to bombard the canal walls with its waves. Though the effect of the turbulence of each individual boat is practically negligible, the sheer number of passing boats creates a vicious effect over time.

The article "Mapping Turbulent Discharges in Venetian Canals" can be found here and in our Google Docs archive.