Fluvial flood modeling and 3D visualization of impacts of fluvial, pluvial and coastal flooding

Abstract Submission: The intensity and frequency of flooding is likely to increase with extreme temperatures across the globe that have resulted from climate change. This project examines potential increases in fluvial flooding in urban areas close to river channels and explores the damages resulting from these events using 3D terrain visualization software. This effort complements ongoing projects that focus on pluvial flooding in urban areas in the Fraser River Basin. This project analysis flooding in the same areas, but with a a focus on addressing existing research challenges in developing advanced fluvial modelling which include fast computation of the flood dynamics that incorporates both terrain geometry and built-up structures. The project develops a baseline using the HEC-RAS component of the HEC-RTS which is the public version of the Corps Water Management System (CWMS) Control and Visualization Interface, or CAVI. It is a comprehensive data acquisition and hydrologic modelling system for short-term decision support of water control operations in real time. The second phase of this work defines and explores the avenues for improving the baseline output through additional artificial intelligence (AI) and statistical post processing. Satellite imagery is used in this stage as a reliable data source. These applications are used to create flood maps for multiple climate change and land-use change scenarios. The maps are rendered in a 3D urban area visualization software that contains accurate terrain information along photorealistic tiles of the urban structures. Past research has shown that such visualizations lead to significantly better understanding of the flood impacts and improved stakeholder engagement.

Learning Objectives/Expected Outcome (Optional) :