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Full 2D hydrodynamic modelling of rainfall-induced flash floods

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Abstract

Mountain catchments are prone to flash flooding due to heavy rainfall. Enhanced understanding of the generation and evolution processes of flash floods is essential for effective flood risk management. However, traditional distributed hydrological models based on kinematic and diffusion wave approximations ignore certain physical mechanisms of flash floods and thus bear excessive uncertainty. Here a hydrodynamic model is presented for flash floods based on the full two-dimensional shallow water equations incorporating rainfall and infiltration. Laboratory experiments of overland flows were modelled to illustrate the capability of the model. Then the model was applied to resolve two observed flash floods of distinct magnitudes in the Lengkou catchment in Shanxi Province, China. The present model is shown to be able to reproduce the flood flows fairly well compared to the observed data. The spatial distribution of rainfall is shown to be crucial for the modelling of flash floods. Sensitivity analyses of the model parameters reveal that the stage and discharge hydrographs are more sensitive to the Manning roughness and initial water content in the catchment than to the Green-Ampt head. Most notably, as the flash flood augments due to heavier rainfall, the modelling results agree with observed data better, which clearly characterizes the paramount role of rainfall in dictating the floods. From practical perspectives, the proposed model is more appropriate for modelling large flash floods.

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Abbreviations

d :

distance

f :

the infiltration rate

F :

cumulative infiltration depth

F, G :

are interface fluxes in the x - and y - directions respectively

g :

the acceleration due to gravity

h :

water depth

H c :

Green-Ampt capillary head

i, j :

the spatial node indexes in the x - and y - directions respectively

k :

the time level

K s :

saturated hydraulic conductivity

n :

Manning roughness

N :

number of rain gauges

q x , q y :

unit discharges in the x - and y - directions respectively

r :

the rainfall intensity

R :

precipitation

RSR :

root mean error- observations standard deviation ratio

PBIAS :

percentage bias

S :

the source term

S f :

friction source term

S s :

bed source term

S0 :

additional bed source term

U :

a vector of conserved variables

u, v :

velocity components in the x - and y - directions respectively

z :

bed elevation

θ i :

initial volumetric water content

θ s :

saturated volumetric water content

τ bx , τ by :

bed stresses in the x - and y - directions respectively

Δt :

the time step

Δx, Δy :

spatial steps in the x - and y - directions respectively

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Wei Huang & Zhi-xian Cao

  2. Changjiang Waterway Planning Design and Research Institute, Wuhan, 430011, China

    Wei Huang

  3. Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

    Gareth Pender

  4. Office of Shanxi Provincial Flood Defense and Drought Relief Headquarters, Taiyuan, 030002, China

    Wen-jun Qi

  5. Shanxi Provincial Hydrographic and Water Resources Survey Bureau, Taiyuan, 030001, China

    Kai Zhao

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  1. Wei Huang
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  2. Zhi-xian Cao
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  5. Kai Zhao
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Correspondence to Zhi-xian Cao.

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Huang, W., Cao, Zx., Qi, Wj. et al. Full 2D hydrodynamic modelling of rainfall-induced flash floods. J. Mt. Sci. 12, 1203–1218 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-015-3466-1

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