Investigating the influence of minor hydraulic structures on modeling flood events in lowland areas

摘要

Flood inundation models have been recognized to be a valuable tool to reproduce flow dynamics in a given area and support decision-making processes on flood management measures. In many cases, in the simulation of flood events, only the main river channel and the associated structures are represented within the model. However, during flood events involving lowland areas, the minor drainage network – and the associated hydraulic structures – may have an important role in conveying flow and determining which areas will be flooded. The objective of this study is to investigate whether – and to what extent – small hydraulic structures in drainage networks have an influence in flooding on lowland areas.The case study for this research is the 1990 flood event which occurred in the lowland plain of the Reno River, in Northern Italy. The study area is mainly used for agricultural purposes and has a drainage system with several small bridges and culverts.The influence of the minor hydraulic structures on flood dynamics was analyzed through a combined use of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) hydraulic models. First, a number of detailed and simplified approaches to represent hydraulic structures in the computational grids were analyzed by means of the HECRAS 1D model. Second, these approaches were implemented and tested in several 2D simulations of the flood event. The simulated inundation extents and flood levels were then compared with the observed data and with each other. The analysis of results showed that simplified schematizations were sufficient to obtain good model predictions of peak inundation extent and flood levels, at least for the present case study. Moreover, the influence of the structures on the peak flood inundation extent and flood levels was found to be limited, whereas it showed to be more significant during the drainage phase of the flood. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.