Daniela Francia

Marine microplastic pollution has emerged as a pressing environmental issue, with significant implications for aquatic ecosystems, human health and global biodiversity. Ports, acting as semi-enclosed environments, are critical zones where plastic waste, including microplastics, plastic fragments smaller than 5 mm, tend to accumulate. These settings provide controlled conditions that are ideal for deploying innovative solutions to monitor and mitigate the impact of microplastic pollution. This paper presents the design, development and initial testing of an autonomous surface drone engineered specifically to monitor and collect microplastics in port environments. Unlike traditional marine drones, this device operates exclusively at the water surface, leveraging mechanical filtration systems to capture and quantify microplastic fragments. Designed for cost-efficiency, ease of manufacturing and operational simplicity, this drone aligns with principles of environmental sustainability and scalability. By integrating readily available materials and modular components, it offers a replicable model for addressing microplastic pollution in localized aquatic systems.

Annulus pipe conveying fluids have many practical applications, such as hydraulic control lines and aircraft fuel lines. In some applications, these tubes are exposed to high speeds. Normally, this leads to a vibration effect which may be of a catastrophic nature. The phenomenon is not only driven by the centrifugal forces, but an important role is played also by the Coriolis forces. Many theoretical approaches exist for a simple configuration or a complex three-dimensional configuration. Finite element models are tested. This paper provides a numerical technique for solving the dynamics of annulus pipe conveying fluid by means of the mono-dimensional Finite Element Method (FEM). In particular, this paper presents a numerical solution to the equations governing a fluid conveying pipeline segment, where a Coriolis force effect is taken into consideration both for fix and hinge constraint.