22nd Canadian Hydrotechnical Conference

22e Confrence canadienne dhydrotechnique

Water for Sustainable Development : Coping with Climate and Environmental Changes
Leau pour le dveloppement durable: adaptation aux changements du climat et de lenvironnement
Montreal, Quebec, April 29 May 2, 2015 / Montral, Qubec, 29 avril 2 mai 2015

FLOOD INUNDATION MAPS USING REDUCED COMPLEXITY MODELS

H. McGrath1, E. Stefanakis1, and M. Nastev2
1. Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB,
Canada
2. Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Qubec ,Canada
Keywords: flood hazard; flood inundation modeling; reduced complexity; flood risk assessment; floodplain

1. INTRODUCTION
Hydrological models are important in a range of applications, including water resources planning and
development of flood management systems (Pechlivanidis et al., 2011). The models consider different
forms, numerical methods, or dimensions and differ in complexity, user input, and computational time
(Pechlivanidis et al., 2011). For computing flood hazard at a specific return period or to reproduce historic
or potential future events, these hydraulic models are technologically sophisticated, and are intended, first
of all, for use by a small number of technical and scientific experts. However, in recent years, the demand
for flood predictions has increased considerably (Hunter et al., 2007).
Combining simplified descriptions of surface flow with detailed topography has led to an increase in the
use of reduced complexity models in hydraulic studies (Hunter et al., 2007). Simple models may simulate
flood inundation with sufficient accuracy suitable for a range of uses, including steady state simulations or
applications which require only maximum extent (Hunter et al., 2007, Bates and de Roo, 2000). These
simple hydrologic models are advantageous due to their minimum inclusion of processes and
computational efficiency. However, their simplicity may make them less desirable, as they are designed to
perform only specific tasks and often ignore other important processes (e.g., flow velocity, duration). On
the other hand complex models have higher predictive performance, however results are typically based
on the assumption that explanatory variables (e.g., water depth, inundation duration.) in complex models
are without uncertainty (Schroter et al., 2013; Hunter et al.,2007). As well, recent research by Orth et
al.,(2015) has shown that more complex models do not necessarily result in improved performance.
Whether a complex or reduced complexity hydrological model is used, uncertainty is present across all
aspects of the process from data collection to model selection. Two kinds of uncertainty are prevalent: (a)
lack of knowledge of the phenomena, which is reflected in the model design and (b) uncertainty in the
choices or parameters used during evaluation, with different impacts on the accuracy of the model results
(Merz and Thieken, 2005). The uncertainty encountered in a flood model but may vary in time and space
across the model.
The results generated from a hydrological model need to be validated against real system data, with a
level of validation reflective of the intended purpose of the application to assess uncertainty (Schroter et
al., 2013). However, model validation is scarcely performed, typically due to lack of, or missing data. Given

the limited data collected on many Canadian rivers, these reduced complexity models used in conjunction
with high resolution topography may produce suitable results, e.g., in the case of informed emergency
response and mitigation decisions. The standard risk assessment process combines the flood hazard
information together with an inventory of assets at risk and respective vulnerabilities to assess the
expected economic and social losses. Each of these three inputs has their own epistemic and aleatory
uncertainties, hence, insisting on the accuracy and higher resolution of one of the input parameters seems
less practical.
As part of a more comprehensive flood risk assessment research program, this study aims to provide the
capability to compute approximate flood inundation maps at any potential river stage by any user
including the non-expert public safety community. A number of reduced complexity methods for computing
flood inundation maps will be developed and disseminated in a web-based mapping application.

2. METHODS
Three reduced complexity models are considered in this study: (i) constant horizontal flooded water
surface (0D- model), (ii) constant immersion depth along the river axis (1D+model) and (iii) constant
discharge by interpolation between pre-computed flood water surfaces. These methods are assumed
acceptable for small study areas with relatively uniform topography, usually representative of urban
environment, whereas larger study areas should be divided into smaller portions depending of the
hydrology and terrain characteristics.
i.

The constant horizontal flood water surface is based solely on topographic data and user provided
flood level at one location. The river centerline is divided into equal length segments unless
significant curvature exists, at which point these segments will be shortened. Perpendicular crosssections will be computed at each river vertex (Figure 1). An algorithm will search the vertical
elevation value along this transect on each side of the river and at the pixel matching (or an
interpolated distance between the pixel exceeding this value and the one prior) a floodplain
boundary vertex will be placed. The boundary vertex markers will then be joined along elevation
contours to create the flood boundary. The assumed flat waterlevel will then be subtracted from
each elevation pixel to compute and display a flood depth grid surface. This approach is
applicable for relatively flat terrains and/or coastal floods.

Figure 1 Identifying points with target elevation (from Cai et al., 2007).

ii.

In the second approach a constant flood depth is assumed along the river channel and a cell
routing philosophy is used for the adjacent floodplain. Within the river bank, solution of the
simplified St. Venant equation will be solved under the assumption of equal flow in the
downstream direction. In the floodplain, each cell of the Digital Terrain Model will be modeled as

discrete storage cells, with the flow between them calculated explicitly while maintaining volume
across the study area (Figure 2) (Hunter et al., 2005).

Figure 2 Each floodplain cell modeled as storage volume for which continuity equation is solved,
oscillations occur between adjacent cells at subsequent time steps (from Hunter et al., 2005).
iii.

The third approach, the constant discharge method requires a minimum of two pre-computed
flood events to interpolate the flood level parameters any point in the study area (Figure 3). These
parameters ( and ) are computed by linear interpolation of the logarithms of the user provided
flood water levels vs. respective discharge rates. In this way, a logarithmic regression function is
developed for each mesh, which can then be used to predict flood level for any other discharge
rate (Poulin et al., 2012).

Figure 3 Method for determining the parameters of the regression function for the entire domain,
(from Poulin et al., 2012).

Its hypothesized developing reduced complexity models which allow creation of flood inundation maps by
non-specialists will produce results suitable for informed emergency response and mitigation decisions.

3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project is partially supported by the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) which is led by
Defence Research and Development Canadas Centre for Security Science, in partnership with Public
Safety Canada. The CSSP is a federally-funded program to strengthen Canadas ability to anticipate,
prevent/mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters, serious accidents, crime and
terrorism through the convergence of science and technology with policy, operations and intelligence.

Natural Resources Canada leads the project in partnership with New Brunswick EMO, University of New
Brunswick, Public Safety Canada regional office in Fredericton, and New Brunswick Ministry of Transport.

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